Professional Dispositions and Inclusive Competences of School Teachers

An inclusion teacher is supposed to possess a range of personal and professional characteristics. The analysis of these characteristics, however, should not be limited to respective competencies alone. It should explore them in relation to the inclusion teacher’s professional dispositions. Ours is the first study to provide evidence-based insights into the nature of relationship between teachers’ professional dispositions and their inclusion competencies. The evidence was collected through two self-designed tools: a situational professional test of inclusion competencies and a questionnaire of professional dispositions. The sample included 758 practicing teachers. The results indicate that professional dispositions are not determinants but rather drivers for the formation and development of teachers’ inclusion competencies. Moreover, it is the focus on the student with disabilities rather than the organization of inclusive education that acts as a link between the inclusion component of professional dispositions and inclusion competencies.

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