Development of pre-service teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and attitudes towards inclusive education through first teaching experiences

We examined the development of pre-service teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and attitudes towards inclusive education through first teaching experiences during a 4-week practicum. Additionally, we assessed the burnout-related variables (job-related satisfaction and exhaustion and perceived competence support during the practicum). Whereas t-tests for paired samples showed that self-efficacy increased significantly, attitudes remained the same except for a decrease regarding attitudes towards the effects of inclusive education. However, 97% of the pre-service teachers in our study reported positive to neutral experiences with inclusive teaching during the teaching practicum and correlational analysis revealed a low, but significant positive relationship between positive experiences and self-efficacy and attitudes. Moreover, multiple regression analyses showed that positive experiences in inclusive classrooms predicted self-efficacy regarding the arrangements of inclusive education, while perceived competence support from university supervisors was a significant predictor of attitudes towards the effects of inclusive education. High self-efficacy correlated significantly with satisfaction of career choice, whereas attitudes were significantly negatively correlated with exhaustion. The implications of these findings and the importance of a sufficiently scaffolded teaching practicum in order to increase attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs towards inclusive education are discussed.