UAE Preschool Teachers' Attitudes toward Inclusion Education by Specialty and Cultural Identity
General Material Designation
[Thesis]
First Statement of Responsibility
Afraa Salah Hussain
Subsequent Statement of Responsibility
Loun, Patricia
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
Walden University
Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.
2017
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item
118
GENERAL NOTES
Text of Note
Committee members: Hananiah, Mona; McBride, Neal
NOTES PERTAINING TO PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC.
Text of Note
Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-0-355-06420-9
DISSERTATION (THESIS) NOTE
Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree
Ph.D.
Discipline of degree
Psychology
Body granting the degree
Walden University
Text preceding or following the note
2017
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
Inclusion of children with special education needs into public classrooms in United Arab Emirates applied in 2006. The application of inclusion programs started in high schools, and followed by elementary schools and preschools. Teachers' attitudes toward inclusion evaluated among high school and elementary teachers but not among preschool teachers. The effect of the cultural background of teaching staff on inclusion education not evaluated in a UAE preschool. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the effect of educational specialty and culture on teachers' attitudes toward an inclusion education system in United Arab Emirates. The theory of planned behavior of Ajzan (1991) used in this study to explain teachers' attitudes. This quantitative study evaluated teachers' attitudes toward inclusion education through a distributed questionnaire, including a demographics form and a STATIC scale for evaluating teachers' attitudes. A two-factor ANOVA used to test the effects of teachers' specialty and cultural background on STATIC scores. Findings showed a main effect of preschool teachers' cultural identity on their attitudes toward inclusion education. Teachers with Asian identity showed better attitudes toward inclusion education than Gulf identity or African identity teachers. No differences found between preschool teachers' specialty (general and special education teachers) on their attitudes toward inclusion education. This study will contribute to social change by providing valuable knowledge about UAE preschool teachers' attitudes toward the application of inclusion education to improve the inclusion classrooms settings and environment.
TOPICAL NAME USED AS SUBJECT
Early childhood education; Educational psychology; Middle Eastern Studies; Psychology
UNCONTROLLED SUBJECT TERMS
Subject Term
Social sciences;Psychology;Education;Culture;General teachers;Inclusion education;Special education teachers;Static scale;United Arab Emirates