Early Care and Education Professionals' Perceptions of Inclusive Programming: A Comparative Study

The topic of inclusive, community-based child care continues to be a focus for many early care and education professionals. Although the law is clear in identifying that community-based early care and education programs must serve young children with disabilities, many programs still struggle to develop a comprehensive approach to inclusion. The problem remains that there are still too few community-based, early care and education programs offering inclusive programming for young children with disabilities. The purpose of this quantitative study was to compare early care and education professionals' perceptions regarding inclusive programming in community-based programs. A total of 129 members of the Southern Early Childhood Association (SECA) completed the Scales of Teacher's Attitudes Toward Inclusion (STATIC) questionnaire. Differences among the three levels on the independent variable [early care and education directors (n = 52), preschool teachers (n = 40), and infant/toddler teachers (n= 37)] were investigated with respect to the dependent variables of Advantages and Disadvantages of Inclusive Education, Professional Issues Regarding Inclusive Education, Logistical Concerns of Inclusive Education, and Philosophical Issues Regarding Inclusive Education. A comparison of the difference in scores among the three groups as related to subscale one was tested with the Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance by ranks and revealed no significant differences, H= 1.59, 2df, p = .451, p > .05. The remaining three scales were not tested because they were not considered reliable. A final analysis was conducted on the independent variable, which included three levels, and the new dependent variable, Attitudes Toward Inclusion, as measured by the full STATIC instrument. The Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance by ranks revealed no significant differences, H= 2.830, 2df, p = .243, p > .05. Additional descriptive data were analyzed and means for each item provided evidence that on a practical basis early care and education professionals continue to struggle with designing and providing inclusive programming in community-based centers. This quantitative data provides a strong foundation for future studies using a mix-method or qualitative design. Future research can be designed to measure additional variables that impede or promote inclusive programming for young children.