Teachers play an important role in the success of inclusive practices for diverse learners in regular classrooms. It is, therefore, important to examine their beliefs and preparation to teach in inclusive classrooms. The main purpose of this study was to analyze the attitude of active Chilean teachers (n = 569) towards inclusion, their self-efficacy regarding inclusive practices, and their intention to teach in inclusive classrooms. Our secondary objectives were to explore the relationship between their attitudes and self-efficacy and to determine the influence of demographic and professional variables on these two constructs. A positive and significant relationship between teachers’ attitude and self-efficacy was found. Teacher qualification was not significantly related to attitudes towards inclusion but was negatively associated with their self-efficacy beliefs concerning inclusive practices. Secondary education teachers reported lower teaching efficacy beliefs for inclusion than pre-school, primary, and special education teachers. The type of school emerged as a significant predictor of teachers’ attitude and self-efficacy beliefs. The implications of this research and need for additional teacher and in-service training to improve educators’ attitudes and self-efficacy are discussed.

Service-learning is an important and effective educational pedagogy that has grown tremendously in Spain. Research shows that service-learning has positive effects on the professional and personal development of future teachers. Since future teachers, in turn, influence the education of the next generation, it is important to understand how service-learning may influence the life purposes of student-teachers themselves, specifically, how emotions influence this development process. Statistical analyses of 198 Madrileño student-teachers’ responses to online questionnaires suggested that service-learning involves positive emotions like interest, enthusiasm, inspiration and determination. Surprisingly, these positive emotions decrease during service, except for the 53 student-teachers whose purposes changed. Most reported positive changes in all dimensions of life purpose, with some also noting strengthened relationships between 10 pairs of dimensions, such as between stronger impetus to help others and a clearer understanding of who would benefit. This study supports teaching as a calling and how service-learning can strengthen that calling.

Elaboració de tècniques de recollida d’informació en dissenys mixtos. Un exemple d’estudi en aprenentatge servei

The main purpose of this study was to analyse the psychometric properties of the Chilean-Spanish version of the Attitudes towards Inclusion Scale (AIS), the Intention to Teach in Inclusive Classrooms Scale (ITICS), and the Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practices (TEIP) scale. The secondary objective was to establish whether the intention to teach in inclusive classrooms is influenced by attitudes and self-efficacy. Participants were 569 in-service teachers. The results indicated adequate reliability scores for the three instruments. The results of the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of the AIS confirmed the existence of two factors. The ITICS was determined to be unidimensional. The factor structure of the TEIP scale differed substantially from that of the original scale, and two factorial solutions were determined to be the best fit for Chilean teachers. Self-efficacy for inclusive practices and attitudes towards inclusion had a positive effect on intention to implement inclusive practices. The implications of the findings for teacher education programmes are discussed.

RESUMEN: En los últimos años se ha ratificado el derecho a una educación de calidad e inclusiva, especialmente de personas en situación de discapacidad, y se ha puesto énfasis en una enseñanza que involucre a los estudiantes en experiencias matemáticas significativas de alta calidad. Sin embargo, son escasas las investigaciones respecto de cuáles son las oportunidades de aprendizaje (ODA) matemático que se proporcionan a estudiantes que presentan algún tipo de discapacidad intelectual. En este escenario, y con el propósito de caracterizar este tipo de oportunidades que se entregan en escuelas especiales, se realizó un estudio de casos múltiple de ocho cursos de primer ciclo básico de distintas escuelas chilenas. Para ello, se recogieron datos por medio del registro y análisis de contenido de las tareas matemáticas en soportes como cuadernos, fichas de trabajos y evaluaciones de cuatro estudiantes de cada uno de los ocho cursos de enseñanza básica que conforman este estudio. El análisis se centró en la categorización por ejes de contenidos, objetivos curriculares, habilidades matemáticas y demanda cognitiva implicadas en las tareas. Los resultados indican que las ODA se focalizan en el desarrollo de aprendizajes de primero y segundo básico, casi exclusivamente en Números y Operaciones, donde las tareas promueven el desarrollo de habilidades de mediana complejidad, y con fuerte carácter procedimental. Se concluye que los estudiantes de escuelas especiales tienen escasas oportunidades en acceder a nociones matemáticas variadas y desarrollar habilidades complejas a través de tareas ricas y desafiantes, limitando así su participación y desarrollo personal.