The who and what of inclusive education—Profiles of student teachers' attitudes toward inclusive education

The present study investigated the relationship between different attitudes toward inclusive education. It draws from the Framework of Inclusive Education by assuming a reciprocal relationship between learning theory beliefs, models of disability, and the assessment of joined education, resulting in consistent attitudes toward inclusion. The study investigated attitudes toward inclusion by applying a person-centered approach (latent profile analysis; LPA) to a sample of N = 138 student teachers. The results suggest a two-class solution: firstly, a consistent exclusive profile combining higher transmissive beliefs of learning and teaching and a preference for exclusion; secondly, a general inclusive profile that combines support for functional and full inclusion, relational and social models of disability, and a cognitive, constructivist learning theory. The profile distribution appeared to be related to teacher self-efficacy, but not to gender or the educational stage of prospective teaching practice.