A study of perceptions as expressed through metaphors: what do preschool teachers think about their inclusive students?

Inclusive education is an approach intended to reduce marginalisation of students with diverse needs and encourage them to participate in community life. But the truth is that teachers' attitudes towards inclusive practices and inclusive students have a tremendous impact on the success of inclusive education. In this study, 126 preschool teachers' metaphorical expressions of their perceptions of their inclusive students were collected via a semi-structured questionnaire, in which they completed the open-ended statement: 'My student in the inclusive classroom is like horizontal ellipsis . because horizontal ellipsis '. Teachers described their inclusive students with 51 valid metaphors such as flowers, caterpillars, babies, rainbows, play dough, amusement parks, and gifts. Analysis of the metaphors resulted in seven categories of ways in which the teachers perceived students with diverse needs.