The impact of teachers’ inclusive attitudes on the acceptance of students with special needs: A gender perspective

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between students’ perceptions of teachers’ inclusive attitudes and their acceptance of students with special educational needs (SEN), with gender as a moderating variable. Recognizing the importance of fostering inclusive school environments, this study employed a quantitative correlational design involving 307 students from three inclusive public junior high schools in Semarang, Indonesia. Data were collected using adapted versions of the Attitudes Towards Inclusive Education Scale (AIES) and the Attitude Survey Towards Inclusive Education (ASIE), which demonstrated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = .976 and .925, respectively). Data were analyzed using Hayes’ PROCESS Macro Model 1 (version 5.0) in SPSS. The results revealed a significant positive association between perceived teacher inclusivity and students’ acceptance of peers with special educational needs (β = 9.743, p < .001). Furthermore, gender significantly moderated this relationship (β = 0.472, p < .05). The overall model explained 88.22% of the variance in students’ acceptance (R² = .8822). These findings highlight the importance of perceived teacher inclusivity in promoting peer acceptance within inclusive educational settings and suggest that this relationship varies by gender. The study underscores the need for school-based interventions that strengthen inclusive teaching practices while considering gender-related differences in students’ social attitudes.