EXPLORING SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN THE ZHAMBYL REGION IN KAZAKHSTAN

Abstract

The study explored secondary school teachers’ attitudes toward inclusive education in the Zhambyl region, Kazakhstan. In this study, the research was conducted within a pragmatic paradigm to understand how the environment, expertise, and methods impact how these factors influence secondary school teachers’ attitudes toward inclusive education. Three crucial questions were investigated: how teachers conceptualized inclusive education, which teacher-related factors influenced their attitudes toward inclusive education, and how secondary school teachers’ attitudes could be improved. For this purpose, sequential mixed-method research was employed. First, the quantitative data was gathered via an online survey; then, the qualitative data was collected via one-on-one interviews. Nonprobability sampling, particularly snowball sampling, was used to reach the target population of 104 respondents for the survey and five respondents for the Interviews. In building the conceptual framework, literature on factors influencing positive and negative attitudes of teachers was reviewed at international, regional, and local levels. Later, the results obtained were discussed in terms of the conceptual framework....