Attitudes and knowledge about inclusive education of students with visual impairment: elementary and high school teachers

Abstract

The success of inclusive education (IE) largely depends on teachers' attitudes and knowledge toward students with disabilities (Dapudong, 2014). А great deal of scholarly research focuses on the attitudes of teachers regarding educating students with disabilities.Unfortunately, a small number of studies refer to teachers' attitudes and knowledge toward students with visual impairment (VI).This research focuses on elementary and high school teachers’ attitudes and knowledge regarding the inclusive education of students with visual impairment. This study brings up the following research questions: 1) Do elementary and high school teachers have positive attitudes towards IE of students with VI? 2) Do thеseteachers consider that they have enough knowledge toward inclusion of students with VI?A total of 135 teachers, working in elementary and high schools,returned the completed survey. A two-part questionnaire was used in this study. Part one gathered information relating to personal and professional characteristics of the teachers. Part two was a 14-item Likert scaletitled, Attitudes, Knowledge and Previous Experience about Inclusive Education Questionnaire (AKPEIEQ).The major finding of the study was that the elementary and high teachers had positive attitudes towards the inclusion of students with VI. Almost all of participants (90,4%) considered the presence of support professionals (special educators) in the classroom an indispensable element for an efficient IE.In addition, 39.3% of them have the ability to provide guidance to students with VI about their future professional opportunities and felt qualified to do their job according to the requirements of IE