Attitudes of Preschool Teachers in South Korea toward Inclusion: Using the Rasch Model to Construct a Teacher Attitude Measur

Implementation of preschool inclusion is a global trend and preschool teachers' attitudes toward inclusion play a significant role in supporting effective inclusion for children with disabilities. While many early childhood studies have reported attitudes of teachers toward early childhood inclusion, there has been lack of information about South Korean preschool teachers' attitudes toward inclusion. Measuring teachers' attitudes is a complex process that involves many different variables, so choosing a rigorous measurement model to construct a valid teacher attitude measure is crucial. For this study, the Rasch model was chosen to develop the attitude measure to obtain more useful information about attitudes of preschool teachers in South Korea toward inclusion.;The purpose of this study was to a) investigate attitudes of preschool teachers in South Korea toward inclusion and b) to construct a valid teacher attitude measure by using the Rasch model. Data was collected using an online survey.;The results indicated that 64% of teachers generally had positive thoughts about a) the necessity of in-service training, b) the overall concept of access to a general classroom for a child with disability, c) full participation in a preschool classroom for a child with disability, d) inclusion for a child with a moderate disability, and e) access to a general classroom regardless of the child's type of disability. Also, the results indicated that the majority of teachers were strongly opposed to including a child with EBD and had strong negative feelings about including a child with a severe disability. Also, they were more unwilling to have a child with a severe disability than a child with a mild and a moderate disability.;To implement more effective inclusion, professional development programs need to provide more extensive and specialized knowledge and instructional skills to general preschool teachers.