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The Relationship Between Educators’ Inclusive Education Attitudes and Subsequent Teaching Behaviours: A Quantitative Study in Vanuatu

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2025

Angelinah Eldads Vira
Affiliation:
Ministry of Education and Training, Port Vila, Vanuatu University of Newcastle, Australia
Angela Page*
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle, Australia
Susan Ledger
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle, Australia
*
Corresponding author: Angela Page; Email: Apage1@newcastle.edu.au
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Abstract

Policy reform in many remote or developing nations focuses on quality education and inclusive education practices, yet many schools are ill-prepared to enact these reforms. In this study, we examined the attitudes and observed teaching behaviours of 27 educators towards inclusive education in Vanuatu schools. Attitudes were measured using the Teacher Attitudes to Inclusion Scale (TAIS), and inclusive practices were observed using the Effective Teaching Practices Checklist (ETPC). Both instruments were administered before and after a professional learning (PL) workshop and time provided for the participants to implement their new learnings. Results indicated that participants’ attitudes towards inclusive education were quite high on the TAIS scale and had a nonsignificant change; however, significant gains were observed across all five ETPC subscales (p < .001) of Classroom Organisation and Order, Behaviour Management, Lesson Planning, Lesson Delivery and Reinforcement, and in particular Adaptive Instruction. These findings suggest that although attitudinal shifts were modest, the targeted PL was associated with meaningful improvements in inclusive classroom practices. The results highlight the value of context-specific training to support inclusive education implementation in remote and developing contexts.

Information

Type
Original Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Australian Association of Special Education
Figure 0

Table 1. Summary of Participant Demographics

Figure 1

Table 2. Descriptive Statistics for All Subscales

Figure 2

Table 3. Paired Samples t Tests for Teacher Attitudes to Inclusion Scale (TAIS)

Figure 3

Table 4. Paired Samples t Tests for Effective Teaching Practices Checklist (ETPC)