Abstract:

Administrators play a critical role in facilitating early childhood inclusion (Steed et al., 2023) and ensuring that the defining features of inclusive practices are implemented to warrant high-quality learning opportunities for all children. Their responsibilities in relation to access include facilitating initial enrollment of children with disabilities and ensuring that physical space is appropriate for all children. In relation to participation, administrators are often involved in decision making process to select curriculum and instructional approaches and provide support to enhance family involvement. Regarding the support feature, administrators are responsible to offer training and professional development to practitioners, collaborate with community organizations, and manage the budget to provide material support. Administrators are also responsible from developing a shared vision to facilitate inclusion. Administrators’ beliefs and attitudes are likely to impact their decisions and actions in relation to inclusion of young children with disabilities in their schools. Although there are many studies in the extant literature focused on attitudes of teachers and primary school principals towards inclusion (Lindner et al., 2023), limited research is available for early childhood administrators (Purcell et al., 2007; Steed et al., 2023). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine attitudes of Turkish early childhood administrators towards inclusion of young children with disabilities.

A survey design was employed in this study. A web-based questionnaire consisted of demographic information form and the Turkish version of Opinions Relative to the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities (ORI) Scale (Antonak & Larrivee, 1995) were distributed to 426 early childhood administrators across fourteen cities in Turkey. Of those, 168 administrators (88 director/principle and 80 assistant director/principle) returned completed questionnaires to researchers and data from these questionnaires were included in the analysis.

Overall, attitudes of early childhood administrators were slightly favorable towards inclusion of young children with disabilities with a mean ORI score of 90.32 (SD = 8.27). A one-way ANOVA revealed that there was a statistically significant difference in mean ORI scores by gender, age, administrative role, and community type. Female administrators had a higher mean score than male administrators (F(1, 166) = 26.87; p < .001); administrators who were between 27-32 years of age had a higher mean score than those who were older (F(3, 164) = 3.67; p = .014); principals had had a higher mean score than assistant principals (F(1, 166) = 8.97; p = .003); and administrators who worked in school in urban areas had a higher mean score than those worked in suburban areas (F(1, 166) = 4.33; p = .039). Years of administrative or teaching experience or experience with children with disabilities did not have significant impact on early childhood administrators’ attitudes.

Overall, findings showed that attitudes of early childhood administrators were slightly favorable towards inclusion of young children with disabilities. Personal characteristics including gender, age, administrative role, and community type predicted administrators’ attitudes while professional and personal experience was found to be not related to their attitudes.

Keywords:

Attitude, early childhood, administrator, inclusion.