Sentiments, concerns and attitudes towards inclusive education – A comparison between teacher education students at the University of North Carolina (Charlotte, USA) and the University of Education (Ludwigsburg, Germany)

Abstract

Internationally there has been a great deal of research since the 1990s related to the question of how pre-service and in-service teachers think about the “new task” of dealing with diversity and inclusion in schools and classrooms. Many surveys have considered the influence of attitudes towards inclusive education of teachers for successful practice, as they are relevant action-regulating factors and influence perceptions (Beuse 2015, 55). It is not unequivocally certain, “how far on an individual basis the extent of a discrepancy between expressed attitudes and the actual action can be considered” (Kunz et al. 2010, 84), but it is believed, that there is a positive correlation between attitudes and action. The following article is trying to give a brief insight into the development of inclusion and inclusive education in the teacher education programs in Germany and the United States, with a focus on Baden-Württemberg and North Carolina. Based on this contextual framework, a comparative survey that took place in summer 2015 at two teacher education institutions – University of Education Ludwigsburg and University North Carolina in Charlotte – will be introduced. The idea of this survey is to compare the effects of different curriculum changes and programs on the sentiments, concerns and attitudes of teacher education students at both institutions.