The presentation addresses the urgent need to face complexity in today’s school contexts. This requires the identification of variables that influence teacher agency and which contribute to the success of inclusion. Following the worldwide acknowledgement in the field of humanities [1,2,3], policy documents [4], and in educational research [5,6,7,8] variables such as attitudes and self-percepts of efficacy can be considered as antecedents to teacher agency [1,2,3]. From this theoretical point of view two countries with different context and cultural traditions towards inclusion conducted an exploratory and comparative research with the goal of investigating student-teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion and the perceptions of efficacy. Furthermore, the comparative study aimed at shedding light on how factors such as the educational system and culture can influence the variables considered. Due to the different traditions between Italy and Austria with regards to inclusive education, dissimilar findings were expected. The sample included 364 student-teachers, 221 of which were Italian whereas 143 were Austrian, following a teacher education course. A questionnaire composed of three main sections was administered. The first two parts included the Sentiments, Attitudes and Concerns about Inclusive Education Scale –Revised (SACIE-R) [5] and the Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practice Scale (TEIP) [6]. The third section included questions in order to gather information on the respondents’ demographic data. The results yielded expected and unexpected findings. Participants from both countries show levels of attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs towards inclusive education above the theoretical mean. Pearson correlation coefficient, results indicate a slight negative correlation between age range and Efficacy in Managing Behaviour dimension. Teaching experience is not significantly associated with all self-efficacy dimensions. Attitudes towards inclusion dimension shows a significant association with Efficacy in Collaboration and Efficacy in Inclusive Instruction. Differences between the Italian and Austrian Sample emerged with regards to attitudes, Efficacy in Inclusive Instruction and Managing Behaviour. No differences could be proved for Efficacy in collaboration. The results predict quite a promising scenario in both countries in terms of their willingness to implement inclusive practices, with the Italian sample maybe slightly more inclined to adopt such a behavior. The presentation will discuss possibilities regarding fruitful research design to initiate an international network of researchers investigating and comparing such variables through the use of scales that have been specifically designed to measure these and other predictive determinants of success of inclusion.

[1] Ajzen, I. (2005). Attitudes, Personality and Behaviour. Berkshire: Open University Press. [2] Bandura, A. (1986). Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. [3] Biesta, G., Priestley, M., Robinson, S. (2015). The role of beliefs in teacher agency. Teachers and Teaching. Theory and Practice, 21(6), 624-640. doi:10.1080/13540602.2015.1044325. [4] European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education (2012). Profile of Inclusive Teachers, Odense, Denmark: Author. [5] Forlin C., Earle, C., Loreman T., Sharma, U. (2011). The Sentiments, Attitudes and Concerns about Inclusive Education Revised (SACIE-R) scale for measuring teachers’ perceptions about inclusion. Exceptionality Education International, 21(3), 50-65. [6] Sharma, U., Loreman, T., Forlin, C. (2011). Measuring teacher efficacy to implement inclusive practices. Journal for Research in Special Educational Needs. 12(1), 12-21. [7] Hecht, P., Niedermair, C., Feyerer, E. (2016). Einstellungen und inklusionsbezogene Selbstwirksamkeitsüberzeugungen von Lehramtsstudierenden und Lehrpersonen im Berufseinstieg – Messverfahren und Befunde aus einem Mixed-Methods-Design. In: Empirische Sonderpädagogik (1), 86-102. [8] Aiello, P., Sharma, U., Dimitrov, D.M., Di Gennaro, D.C., Pace, E.M., Zollo, I., Sibilio, M. (2016). Indagine sulle percezioni del livello di efficacia dei docenti e sui loro atteggiamenti nei confronti dell’inclusione. L’Integrazione Scolastica e Sociale, 15(1), 64-87.