Inclusion has become a fundamental principle of modern education systems around the world. Inclusive education is built on a premise of the right to an education for every student, where systems and schools are responsible for educating all young people within their communities (Nilholm, 2021). While inclusive education has been around for several decades, there are still challenges occurring with the way in which it should be employed. For inclusive education to be effective the need for a collective engagement is critical (Subban et al., 2023). Policy makers, school leaders, educators, and parents/carers, are some of the key stakeholders in engaging with effective inclusive practices for all students. Teachers’ beliefs in inclusive education, their capability to teach inclusively, and their intention to teach inclusively are some important aspects of their engagement in employing inclusive practices within their classrooms (Sharma & Jacobs, 2016; Woodcock et al., 2022). However, without support, teachers may face challenges that they are not able to overcome in order to engage effectively with inclusion (Woodcock & Woolfson, 2019). This study examined the relationship between teachers’ intentions to teach inclusively and the support and challenges that they experience. In-service teachers (n=869) across Switzerland, Canada, and Italy were surveyed. In each country teachers with the highest and lowest intentions to teach inclusively were identified through the ‘Intention to Teach in Inclusive Classroom’ scale (Sharma & Jacobs, 2016). Thematic analysis was employed to examine and probe teachers’ supports and challenges. Findings reveal that across all countries and levels of intention to teach in inclusive classrooms teachers identified professional development, and classroom practices as key supports. However, across all countries teachers who hold a lower level of intention to teach in inclusive classrooms had support experiences of education assistants (e.g., teacher aide), and collaboration as key supports, whereas teachers with a high intention to teach in inclusive classrooms had support experiences of teacher autonomy and social and emotional wellbeing. Across all countries teachers who hold a lower level of intention to teach in inclusive classrooms had challenging experiences lacking parent involvement and expectation, whereas teachers with a high intention to teach in inclusive classrooms faced challenging experiences towards other teachers’ resistance and attitudes towards teaching inclusively. Studies have shown the importance of teachers’ intention to teach inclusively. Teachers have different intentions to teach inclusively and face various challenges and support needs in order to effectively teach inclusively. Further investigation is needed.

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