Attitudes of students toward people with disabilities, moral identity and inclusive education-A two-level analysis.
Inclusive classrooms plus strong moral identity—held by the student and shared by the class—cut negative attitudes toward peers with disabilities.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Szumski et al. (2020) surveyed students in regular and inclusive classrooms. They asked how students felt about classmates with disabilities. They also measured each student’s moral identity—how much being a good person mattered to them. They looked at both individual kids and whole classrooms.
The team used a two-level model. They checked if one kid’s moral identity and the class average both shaped attitudes.
What they found
Kids in inclusive rooms held fewer negative views about peers with disabilities. Students who said “being kind is part of who I am” had the most positive attitudes. The classroom mattered too: when most kids in a room valued kindness, even average students showed less prejudice.
How this fits with other research
Gasser et al. (2013) saw the same boost in younger students. They found inclusive classes made kids judge exclusion as wrong and feel more sympathy. Grzegorz adds moral identity to the recipe.
Alnahdi (2019) also saw better attitudes in Saudi inclusive elementary schools. The new study keeps that finding but shows the extra power of moral identity at both kid and class levels.
Schwab (2015) sounds like a contradiction—she reported that students with special needs felt less welcome in inclusive Austrian classes. The difference is outcome: Susanne measured social participation (who gets picked for games), while Grzegorz measured attitudes (how kids feel). A class can like peers yet still leave them out at recess.
Why it matters
You can’t move every child into an inclusive room overnight, but you can grow moral identity today. Start lessons or class meetings that let students describe times they helped others. Track “kind acts” on a public board. When the peer culture values fairness, even students who rarely meet peers with disabilities show warmer attitudes.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Attitudes toward people with disabilities are a frequent subject of studies. However, there are few complex studies with personal explanatory variables. Thus, in our study we have conducted an analysis at both the individual and classroom level, as well as we have examined between-levels interactions. METHODS: 1525 students without disabilities participated in the cross-sectional study, in which we analyzed attitudes toward people with disabilities, and moral identity in traditional and in inclusive classroom settings. RESULTS: The results show that individual and classroom moral identity, as well as learning in an inclusive classroom, predict a reduction of negative attitudes toward people with disabilities. Moreover, we have reported some interesting interactions between these two levels. CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained are important for educational practice.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2020 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103685