Primary School Teachers' Attitudes towards the Representation of Disability within the School Textbook

Abstract

Teachers’s attitudes towards disability and inclusion may affect the promotion of an inclusive perspective and the implementation of inclusive practices and strategies in order to promote a culture of diversity. This paper presents an explorative and descriptive study that aims to investigate teachers’ attitudes towards the representation of disability within school textbooks and instructional materials. This study found that teachers would favor a wider representation of disability in instructional materials. However, despite being aware of the limits of representation within the school textbook, teachers continue to primarily rely on it as a source of materials and rarely adapt it to make it more inclusive. The study also found that teachers are aware of socio-cultural and contextual limitations that prevent a more inclusive approach to representation in school materials.