“The Attitudes of Palestinian Teachers toward the Inclusion of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and factors influence their attitudes: A cross-sectional study” رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

Background: Teachers’ attitudes toward the inclusion of children with special needs play an important role in the implementation of the inclusion process, besides their attitudes can influence the success or failure of the process. Children with special needs specifically children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face many challenges to be within an educational context. Objective: This study aims to explore the attitudes of Palestinian teachers toward the inclusion of children with ASD and the factors that could influence or create their attitudes. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, involving a convenience sample of 356 Palestinian teachers residing in the West Bank governmental schools and kindergartens working with children aged 3 to 13. The current study will use the Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Inclusion Scale (TAIS) to survey the attitudes of teachers toward inclusive education and the Autism Attitude Scale for Teachers (AAST) to survey their attitudes toward inclusive education for ASD children in specific were used as the main outcome measures. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 26. Results: The findings revealed that teachers hold an overall positive attitude towards the inclusion of children with ASD. A statistically significant low positive association (r = .40, p < .05) was found between the teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion of children with special needs in general and teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion of children with ASD in specific. Teachers efficacy (r = .51, p < .05), educational category (p = .00), living area (p =.04), general experience with children with ASD (p = .00) , and training (p = .00) were found to have an impact on teachers' attitudes toward including children V with ASD. However, no correlation was found between teachers' attitudes and knowledge, perception, age, marital status, work directorate, academic level, teaching level, educational experience, teaching specialty, type of teaching experience for children with ASD, and the duration of experience with children with ASD. Conclusion: The current study demonstrated that, overall, Palestinian teachers showed positive attitudes toward including children with ASD. The study highlights that their attitudes are associated with teachers’ efficacy, educational role, experience with students with ASD, severity of behavioral symptoms, and training. In contrast, other variables such as knowledge of ASD, perception of inclusive practices, age, gender, type of disability, teaching experience, type of material, academic qualifications, teaching level, and duration of experience in teaching students with ASD are not correlated with teachers’ attitudes.