ATTITUDE OF PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS TOWARDS INCLUSION OF STUDENT WITH DISABILITES IN GENERAL SCHOOL SETTINGS

In order to effective inclusion of students with special needs in general education classrooms, the teacher educator’s community must overcome barriers toward inclusion including existing attitudes. The purpose of this study was to determine the attitudes of pre-service teachers toward students with special needs. The sample consisted of 128 pre-service teachers studying in Haramaya University, Ethiopia. Results provided evidence that pre-service teachers had positive attitudes towards students with special needs. The overall findings suggest that pre-service teachers belonging to science stream and high SES and high educated family had positive attitude towards students with special needs with respect to all the aspects of their development i.e. cognitive, emotional and social development.