The Development of a Psychometrically-Sound Instrument to Measure Teachers' Multidimensional Attitudes toward Inclusive Education.

The Multidimensional Attitudes toward Inclusive Education Scale (MATIES) was developed to effectively measure affective, cognitive and behavioural aspects of attitudes, within the realm of inclusive education that includes physical, social and curricular inclusion. Models within Item Response Theory and Classical Test Theory were used for calibrating the subscales. Using a sample of primary and secondary school regular teachers in Victoria, pilot study analyses indicate that the final three subscales of eighteen items successfully met standards for internal reliability, content validity, construct validity, criterion validity and convergent validity; and provide preliminary evidence to warrant further use of this instrument for the purpose of measuring teachers’ attitudes toward inclusive education. Inclusive education is based on the notion that schools should, without question, provide for the needs of all students, whatever their level of ability or disability. This means that students with disabilities are educated in the company of their regular age peers in a regular school and classroom and provided with instructions that effectively and efficiently meet their educational needs. The ideal of inclusive education is that schools not only accept every child that walks through their doors but also ensure that students with disabilities are considered as full members of the classroom learning community, with their special needs met there (Friend & Bursuck, 1996, p4). Hence inclusive education suggests that no child should be excluded from the neighbourhood school because of perceived learning differences. However, inclusive education is more than just being there. While the physical presence of a child in regular classrooms in their local neighbourhood school is agreed by most as a prerequisite to the actual act of including a child, inclusive education also encompasses the inclusion of a child within the social and curricular milieu of the educational environment (Wills & Jackson, 2001). Profound changes in the provision of educational services to people with disabilities have resulted from international, national and state policies. These changes have seen a move from increasing the integration of students with disabilities in regular schools to providing an educational environment that includes all. Researchers over several decades have concluded that teachers’ attitudes are one of the most crucial variables in the success of inclusive education (Chow & Winzer, 1992; Hayes & Gunn, 1988; Williams & Algozine, 1977). These attitudes can create positive (or negative) expectations and behaviours which increase (or limit) the successful inclusion of students with a disability in educational environments. It is important to obtain an accurate picture of teachers’ attitudes toward inclusive education as these attitudes are predictors of the success of inclusion efforts for both students with and without disabilities (Schumm & Vaughn, 1995; Van Reusen, Shoho, & Barker, 2000; Villa, Thousand, Meyers, & Nevin, 1996). An understanding of these attitudes is essential for curriculum planning and in-service and pre-service training programs; and could have a significant impact on current and future educational policy, program planning and funding decisions.