Stereotypes and attitudes towards students with special educational needs in relation to teachers´ attitudes towards inclusive education

Decisions concerning the educational instruction and pathways of students with special educational needs (SEN) may be affected by general stereotypes and associated teachers´ attitudes. Both stereotypes and attitudes affect judgments and behavior and hence may be pivotal for the success of inclusive education. More specifically, stereotypes and attitudes can elicit positive or negative expectations and judgments, which in turn can enhance or limit the successful inclusion of students with SEN in regular classrooms. The current study investigated stereotypes of and teachers´ implicit attitudes toward students with SEN in relation to teachers´ explicit attitudes towards inclusive education. Results show that teachers hold ambivalent views of students with learning difficulties (i.e. low competence, high warmth), whereas students with behavioral problems are perceived as neither particularly (in)competent nor warm. These stereotypes matched teachers´ implicit attitudes to the extent that implicit attitudes towards students with learning difficulties were more negative than towards students with behavioral problems. Although teachers expressed positive attitudes towards the benefits of inclusion they reported negative attitudes in regards to their ability to teach students with SEN. No associations were found between stereotypes and implicit attitudes. Implicit attitudes towards students with SEN were also not associated with explicit attitudes towards inclusive education. The warmth dimension of stereotype was however positively correlated with perceived ability to teach students with SEN. That is, perceived ability to successfully teach these students may rely on perceptions of these students´ alleged sociability.