Preservice teachers' beliefs about teaching pupils with special educational needs in visual art education

A number of researchers in the field of inclusion of pupils with special educational needs have reported on the influence of teachers' beliefs on their performance in the classroom. Despite this, very few studies have investigated teachers' beliefs in the subject of visual art education. This paper will focus on the beliefs of preservice teachers who acquire competencies for teaching visual art education. We included Slovenian students of the first or second Bologna level of general education, special education and visual art education (N = 168). For the purposes of the research, a questionnaire with a Likert-type rating scale was designed. Respondents show positive beliefs about the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs and the use of adaptations in the visual art education, while at the same time they do not feel competent enough and ready for such teaching. Results show some differences between preservice teachers' beliefs according to the study programme and experience with students with special educational needs. Ways of applying the findings and suggestions for further research are presented.