Japanese in-service teachers' attitudes towards inclusive education and self-efficacy for inclusive practices

Abstract

Although inclusive education has become mainstream in global educational policy, its implementation in national educational policies and in actual practice is often prob-lematic. In Japan, for example, inclusion is relatively new concept for teachers and the overall support system for children with disabilities is underdeveloped. Previous stud-ies suggested that teachers needed to adopt positive attitudes towards inclusive educa-tion and to have high self-efficacy for inclusive practices if they want to become ef-fective inclusion teachers. The purpose of this study is to examine Japanese teachers’ attitudes towards the implementation of inclusive education and self-efficacy for in-clusive practices. A sample of 359 Japanese primary and secondary education teachers filled in a questionnaire comprising the Sentiments, Attitudes, and Concerns about Inclusive Education Revised (SACIE-R) scale (Forlin, Earle, Loreman & Sharma, 2011) and the Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practices (TEIP) scale (Sharma, Lore-man, and Forlin, 2012). The results indicated that although teachers’ sentiments to-wards disabilities were generally positive, many of them had some concerns about implementing inclusive education in their own practice. Teachers’ overall level of self-efficacy for inclusive practice was relatively low compared to other countries particularly related to managing problematic student behaviour. Self-efficacy regard-ing managing behaviour and collaboration was related to overall attitudes towards inclusive education. The findings of this research can provide useful theoretical and practical insights for pre-service and in-service teacher education in Japan.