Teachers’ attitudes and beliefs towards inclusion in education have been shown to have an impact on the acceptance of learners with disabilities (Brownlee & Carrington, 2000), and on the outcomes for learners (Park & Chitiyo, 2011; Segall & Campbell, 2012; Yu, 2018). For this reason, it is important to understand teachers’ attitudes regarding inclusive education (Ewing et al., 2018). Given the increase of learners identified as being autistic attending mainstream schools this study set out to explore the attitudes of student teachers and teachers regarding the inclusion of this specific group of learners. 

Mainstreaming commonly refers to bringing students with disabilities or ‘special needs’ into the ‘mainstream’ schools and classrooms to the extent possible (Prater, 2010). However, ‘placing students with disabilities within mainstream classes without accompanying structural changes to, for example, organisation, curriculum and teaching and learning strategies, does not constitute inclusion’ (UN, 2016). Inclusive education is considered a ‘process of strengthening the capacity of the education system to reach out to all learners’ (UNESCO, 2017) and is based on three main aspects: access to, participation and success in education for all pupils (Alves, 2020).

The education systems within the United Kingdom present considerable differences, namely with regards to approaches to inclusive education. In England the term special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is used and the broad areas of need encompassed by the SEND concept are: communication and interaction needs; cognition and learning; social, emotional and mental health, and sensory and/or physical needs. The policy focus over the past 10 years has been on parental choice and to some extent on ‘removing the bias towards inclusion. In Scotland the language revolves more around children’s rights and the concept of additional support for learning (ASL) refers to any learners who may require additional or different support to what is available to all learners. This may include children with disabilities, as well as those with English as an additional language, those who are looked after by a local authority, and those who are highly able, for example. Within Scotland there is a presumption of mainstreaming which means that all children and young people are expected to attend their local mainstream school unless exceptional conditions are present.

This article is based on data from two studies on teachers and student teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion of autistic learners in Scotland and England. It looks at similarities and differences at the micro, meso and macro levels, across two distinct contexts: mainstream primary education in Scotland and post-compulsory education in England. The main question guiding the study is: What are the attitudes of student-teachers/ teachers regarding the inclusion of autistic learners in mainstream education?

The data was collected via a qualitative study (interviews with 10 student-teachers in England) and a quantitative study (online survey of 394 primary school teachers in Scotland). One-to-one interviews, based on a qualitative, interpretive approach were used to explore the perspectives of student teachers and to examine their experiences of preparing to teach autistic learners whilst on a Postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) programme. Four of the ten interviews were held in a small meeting room at the college where the participants studied. Due to COVID-19 six interviews were conducted using Zoom. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and organised using NVivo. Thematic analysis, an iterative process to categorise patterns of meaning across the data (Cluley, 2018), consisted of a reflexive, inductive method to spark insight and develop meaning (Srivastava & Hopwood, 2009). Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-step guide was used to thematically analyse the interviews. However, although this model is presented as a linear process, Lincoln & Guba (1985:249) warn against research steps as linear and suggest the focus should instead be on adapting and reviewing the data with ‘continuous feedback and feedforward’. So, the process of analysis was iterative, meaning there was movement between the phases. The online questionnaire was designed using a quantitative, post-positivist approach (Creswell, 2014) and collected 394 answers from primary school teachers. Questionnaires offer the benefits of using both standardised and open-ended questions to a range of differing topics from a large sample of the population (Cohen et al., 2018). Mainstream primary school teachers within Scotland were recruited using social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram). The questionnaire asked participants’ demographic information and presented an adapted version of the Teachers Attitudes Towards Inclusion Scale (TATIS - Cullen et al., 2010). Demographic information included gender identity, age, length of teaching service, whether they had an autistic learner currently or had done in the past, whether they had undertaken additional training in supporting autistic learners and if so, what type of training, their current role within the school (e.g. Classroom Teacher, Additional Support Teacher, Principal Teacher, Head Teacher) and which Scottish local authority they worked for. The TATIS questionnaire was not designed specifically to focus on autistic learners so the questions were adapted to the focus and context of this study. The data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, with SPSS version 27 (IBM, 2020).

The data indicates that while there is variation in teacher attitudes, depending on teaching and personal experience, teachers and student-teachers in Scotland and England have a positive attitude towards including autistic learners in mainstream education. However, the data brings to evidence the conceptual difference between mainstreaming and inclusion, as 56.3% of Scottish participants felt that it was necessary to remove autistic learners from the mainstream classroom in order to meet their educational needs. This reinforces the need to reconsider approaches to inclusion that focus solely on placing autistic learners in mainstream classrooms on a full time basis, without considering their access, participation and success in education. Time, skills and resources have been identified as potential challenges and barriers to the inclusion of autistic learners by student-teachers in England. Collaboration, namely through the development of Communities of Practice (Wenger, 2000), and through the use of collaborative teaching methods, such as team teaching, were identified as important facilitators to including autistic learners in education. These collaborative practices should be further developed in both initial teacher education and continuous professional development to support teachers to include autistic learners.

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