INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH PROJECT

Pre-service Teacher Attitudes and Concerns Regarding Inclusive Education.

This project seeks to contribute to the body of research on pre-service teacher attitudes, feelings, and perceived personal competencies towards the regular classroom inclusion of children with disabilities. This is especially poignant in light of the recent international recommendations from the UN and UNESCO to include content on inclusion as part of teacher training programs. Uncovering what current pre-service teacher attitudes and areas of perceived competency are will assist in the shaping of teacher education courses as they relate to inclusion. The international element to this study will be used for the purposes of comparison in order to better highlight local results.

The aims of this research are:

1. To examine pre-service teacher attitudes towards inclusion in leading teacher education programs in Alberta (Canada), Singapore, and Victoria (Australia) and Western Australia (Australia).
2. To determine institutional differences in attitude between students in different years of their education programs.
3. To use the data for international comparison.

Research team:

Umesh Sharma, PhD, Monash University, Victoria, Australia.
Chris Forlin, PhD, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia.
Chris Earle, PhD, Concordia University College of Alberta, Canada.
Tim Loreman, PhD, Concordia University College of Alberta, Canada.
Michael Peterson, Ph.D., Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA

For further information please contact Umesh Sharma.