Social attitudes of teachers in relation to inclusion: Training and change

Abstract

Like every human being, teachers build conceptions, social attitudes, social representations, beliefs, and expectations in relation to the world and the people around them. In the classroom context, these elements refer to their students and the school performance of these students. Teaching can be influenced by several variables. The purpose of this theoretical essay is to examine teachers’ social attitudes toward inclusion and possible interventions to modify them. The relationship between social attitudes toward inclusion and teachers’ sociodemographic variables are discussed, such as gender, age, area of ​training, area of​ activity, prior contact with Special Education students, feeling of self-efficacy, among other features. In addition, the effects of some environmental variables and aspects related to the students themselves are discussed. It is proposed that in addition to technical training, teacher training should address attitudinal and interactional aspects. The domain of specialized knowledge and the competence in the use of different advanced resources are relevant, but their efficacy in the building of Inclusive Education depends on the socio-psychological context created by teachers who really support inclusion.