Analysis of the impact of an inclusive education-training course on the attitudes and the self-efficacy of pre-service teachers

Attitudes and teachers' self-efficacy are two relevant constructs to achieve the goals proposed by inclusive education. Training and previous contact with people with functional diversity seem to influence those variables. Therefore, this study aims to examine whether previous training and previous contact with people with functional diversity influence attitudes and self-efficacy before taking a subject; and examine and analyze attitudes and self-efficacy, as well as the degree of association between these variables, before and after taking the subject. An amount of 118 pre-service teachers completed the Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practice Scale and the Questionnaire to Measure Attitudes Towards Inclusive Education. The results show that attitudes and self-efficacy are associated, but neither prior training nor prior contact influenced both initial assessments. In the posttest, the levels of self-efficacy increased, so we can conclude that training could have an impact on these positive results. The high scores in attitudes and self-efficacy are encouraging, as there are key constructs to establish inclusive education.