European education, e.g., in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, is becoming more and more inclusive. Therefore it is important to identify factors which are related to inclusion. The literature (e.g., de Boer, Pijl, & Minnaert, 2011) shows that especially the attitude of all relevant actors (teachers, parents, students) towards inclusion of students with disabilities are essential influencing factors for successful implementation of inclusion. Research on attitudes towards inclusion of students with disabilities shows quite different results depending how attitudes are assessed. Attitudes are more positive regarding a general philosophy of inclusive education than regarding the practical implementation of inclusive education. Moreover, the kind of disability of the student plays an important role (Avramidis & Norwich 2002).

The present symposium focuses on the attitudes towards students with disabilities from the point of view of teachers, university students and students in secondary and primary schools.

The first and the second submitted contribution will show results from studies in Switzerland. Beginning with a mixed method study the attitudes of 336 elementary school teachers will be presented. Factors influencing teachers’ attitudes will be investigated (e.g., type of disability, teacher’s self-efficacy beliefs about teaching students with SEN) and these will be further illustrated with results from eight in-depth interviews. The second study presents data obtained with another questionnaire from a sample of university students in educational sciences. Part of these students will go into teacher training, part will go into special education tracks, while others project themselves in other educational sciences tracks. This results will be based on the data of about 200-300 first year university students. The third presentation describes the attitudes towards students with disabilities of 1115 Austrian 4^th and 7^th grade students, including 126 students with disabilities. Half of the sample was taught in inclusive classes and half was taught in regular classes. Next to the kind of disabilities of the child, this study shows that being disabled oneself influences one’s own attitude. However, the students’ grade (4^th vs. 7^th) or their type of schooling (inclusive vs. regular classes) did not influence their attitudes. While the first three studies compare several kinds of disabilities, the last study tries to measure the social distance of students from inclusive and regular classes regarding students with Down syndrome. From a methodological point of view, this study also uses a different approach. About 400 students (3^rd and 4^th grade) from Germany and Austria accomplished a computer task where a picture of a student with Down syndrome was shown and students evaluated how much they would like to sit next to this person. The task was extended with an additional experimental manipulation: additional information, positive or negative, was given about that child. Results show that students in inclusive classes show less social distance towards children with Down syndrome and that they are more influenced by the additional information than children from regular classrooms. The discussant will summarize and compare the main results of all four studies and critically discuss the importance for research and practice.