Abstract
This study was conducted in Tainan City, Taiwan. The target population was made up of elementary administrators, general education teachers, non-disabled students, and parents of students with disabilities in inclusive settings. The purposes of this study were: (1) investigate attitudes of elementary administrators in Taiwan, in order to assess their willingness and ability to provide and promote inclusive education for students with disabilities in inclusive settings; (2) investigate attitudes of general education teachers who have students with disabilities included in their classrooms; (3) investigate attitudes of parents of students with disabilities about their feelings regarding inclusion; and (4) investigate the attitudes of typically developing students and their experiences working with students with disabilities included in their classrooms.
A total of 379 out of 431 questionnaires (87.9%) including 63 administrators' questionnaires, 101 general education teachers' questionnaires, 74 parents' of SEN students questionnaires, and 141 non-disabled students' questionnaires were completed and returned.
Descriptive statistics across four separate questionnaires were calculated. The Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were performed as a post-hoc analysis to identify statistically significant difference between the three groups in several sections. Spearman's rho Correlations was calculated to identify factors that may account for differences in responses among four groups of respondents. The researcher read and qualitatively analyzed responses to open-ended questions.
The major findings of the survey are summarized as follows:
1. The majority of participants in each group supported the concept of inclusion and believed that both students with and without disability are socially benefited within inclusive settings.
2. Most participants in this study tended to believe SEN students won't make adequate academic progress in regular classrooms and will fail to catch up with their non-disabled peers in academic learning.
3. The demographic variables of participants in each group seemed to play insignificant factors on their attitudes towards inclusion except one variable, the feelings about inclusion.
4. The responses on barriers to inclusion were generally positive but difficult to interpret.
5. The majority of general education teachers used social integration to help SEN students get a good accommodation and a quick adaptation in regular classrooms.