Attitudes of the Macedonian Preschool Teachers toward Students with Disabilities

Preschool teachers are seen as key persons to implement inclusive education. Positive attitudes are therefore argued as playing a considerable role in implementing this educational change successfully. The aim of this study was to examine what attitudes Macedonian preschool teachers hold towards early inclusive education; which variables are related to their attitudes. We examined the impact of the teaching experience, age of the teachers, and experience of work with children with special needs. The Opinions Relevant to Integration of Students with Disabilities (ORI) was administered to 94 preschool teachers at 2 preschool institutions. The results of this study showed, in general, that the preschool teachers' attitudes were more negative than positive towards the inclusion of students with disability (meaning of students with intellectual impairments, visual impairments, hearing impairments, autism spectrum disorder, physical impairments and ADHD). No significance was found in relation to the grade level of education of preschool teachers, occupational experience and previous teaching experience with students with disability.