Greek Primary School Teachers' Attitudes and Perceptions towards Inclusive Education, Self-efficacy, Intention and Individual Innovativeness: An Investigation of Their Relationship

PURPOSE: To investigate Greek primary school teachers' attitudes and perceptions towards inclusive education, their self-efficacy, intention, and individual innovativeness, as well as the causal relationship among these factors. METHODS: The survey is quantitative and it involves 150 primary school teachers using convenience sampling. The self-report questionnaire included questions about the teachers' demographic, their nature of work, and the characteristics of their professionalism, in addition to utilising four separate scales with the purpose of measuring the teachers' attitudes and perceptions of inclusion, their intention to teach in inclusive classrooms, their perceived self-efficacy in managing inclusion, and their individual innovativeness. RESULTS: The analyses reveal that school teachers express positive attitudes towards inclusive education, their self-efficacy, their intention to teach in inclusive classrooms, and their individual innovativeness. Teachers' self-efficacy is influenced by their work experience in inclusive classes and by their potential training in inclusion issues. Correlations were found between the variables, and similarly, path analysis showed both linear and non-linear effects --namely, self-efficacy strengthens attitudes towards inclusion and intention while through these two mediator variables their individual innovativeness is also shown to be influenced. CONCLUSION: Self-efficacy as a personal resource has a linear and non-linear relationship with attitudes towards inclusive education and the intention to teach in inclusive classrooms, and it seems that positive attitudes also activate their individual innovativeness, thus their search for new practices. Therefore, intention seems to pose great influence on self-efficacy.