Description of the Questionnaire

The “My Thinking About Inclusion [MTAI] – Parents’ Scale” aims to investigate the perceptions of parents of typically developing children regarding the inclusion of children with special needs in mainstream schools. It consists of 12 statements that are rated by parents on a five-point Likert scale, where 1 means “Strongly Agree” and 5 means “Strongly Disagree”. These statements are grouped into three subscales: core perspectives on inclusion, expected outcomes, and classroom practices.

Data Analysis and Use

The adaptation of the questionnaire was based on a sample of 338 parents of typically developing children, of whom 156 were women and 182 were men. Their ages ranged from 27 to 64 years, with an average age of 39 years and 5 months. Most parents came from Northern Greece and Crete. Participants rated each statement based on how much they agreed with it. For statements 2, 5, 6, 9, 11, and 12, reverse scoring was applied (i.e., 1 becomes 5, 2 becomes 4, etc.).

Purpose

The aim of the questionnaire is to record and understand parents’ attitudes and perceptions regarding the inclusion of children with special needs in general education settings. Specifically, it seeks to capture their core beliefs, expectations about the outcomes of inclusion, and their views on related classroom practices.

Scoring

The tool demonstrates good construct and face validity. The correlation between parents’ general perceptions of inclusion and their answers to two related direct questions on inclusion was statistically significant (r = 0.58). Internal consistency, measured by Cronbach’s alpha, ranges from 0.64 to 0.78 for the individual subscales, and is 0.76 for the entire set of items. The reliability of the subscale aggregates was 0.74.

References

Kalyva, E., & Georgiadi, M. (2004). Attitudes of mothers of typically developing children towards the inclusion of children with special needs. Presentation at the Conference “The European Dimension of Special Education: The Emergence of a Different Philosophy.”
Kalyva, E., Georgiadi, M., & Tsakiris, V. (2007). The attitudes of Greek parents of typically developing primary schoolchildren towards inclusion. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 22, 295–305.
Stoiber, K. C., Gettinger, M., & Goetz, D. (1998). Exploring factors influencing parents’ and early childhood practitioners’ beliefs about inclusion. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 13, 107–124.