Teachers are seen as key persons to implement inclusive education. Positive attitudes are therefore argued as playing a considerable role in implementing this educational change successfully. The aim of this study is to examine what attitudes teachers hold towards inclusive education, which variables are related to their attitudes and if these affect the social participation of pupils with special needs in regular schools. A review of 26 studies revealed that the majority of teachers hold neutral or negative attitudes towards the inclusion of pupils with special needs in regular primary education. No studies reported clear positive results. Several variables are found which relate to teachers' attitudes, such as training, experience with inclusive education and pupils' type of disability. No conclusion could be drawn regarding the effects of teachers' attitudes on the social participation of pupils with special needs.

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The trend towards inclusive education has led to an increase of studies focusing on peer attitudes. This review study presents an overview of studies describing attitudes of students, variables relating to students' attitudes, and the relationship between students' attitudes and the social participation of peers with disabilities. Based on a literature search we selected 20 studies that were conducted in seven different countries. Outcomes were described in terms of negative, neutral or positive according to three attitude components (cognitive, affective and behavioural). The results show that students generally hold neutral attitudes towards peers with disabilities. Several variables were found relating to their attitudes (i.e., gender, age, experience with and knowledge about disabilities, parental influence). Moreover, the results indicate that attitudes of peers relate to the social participation of students with disabilities. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of promoting positive attitudes of peers.

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The objective to provide education for all by the year 2015 includes students with disabilities. In the context of developing countries, this group of students is more excluded than included from educational services. This study presents an overview of literature in order to establish which projects have been undertaken and supported the inclusion of students with disabilities. The first aim is to examine the projects undertaken by governments and international organisations to include this group in regular education, the second aim is to examine the effects of these projects in terms of an increase in the number of students with disabilities in regular schools. An analysis of the literature was carried out by focusing on projects including the following four factors: external, school, teachers and parents. Fifteen empirical studies/reports were selected in which several undertaken projects were reported. The implemented projects focused mainly on school and teacher factors. Only two studies reported their effects. The findings are discussed by addressing the approaches of the projects undertaken and the serious gaps in implementing inclusive education in developing countries.

In this study we examine the effectiveness of an intervention program to influence attitudes of elementary school students towards peers with intellectual, physical and severe physical and intellectual disabilities. A quasi-experimental longitudinal study was designed with an experimental group and a control group, both comprising two rural schools. An intervention program was developed for kindergarten (n(experimental) = 22, n(control) = 31) and elementary school students without disabilities (n(experimental) = 91, n(control) = 127) (age range 4-12 years old). This intervention consisted of a 3 weeks education project comprising six lessons about disabilities. The Acceptance Scale for Kindergarten-revised and the Attitude Survey to Inclusive Education were used to measure attitudes at three moments: prior to the start of the intervention, after the intervention and 1 year later. The outcomes of the multilevel analysis showed positive, immediate effects on attitudes of kindergarten students, but limited effects on elementary school students' attitudes.

In many countries, there has been a development towards the inclusion of students with special educational needs in regular education. Over the past decade, this has resulted in an increased interest in attitudes towards this educational change of those directly involved. This current study aims at the development, psychometric evaluation, and validation of a questionnaire to measure attitudes of teachers, parents, and students. The questionnaire is based on the three-component theory, reflecting a cognitive, an affective, and a behavioral component. Based on data of a pilot study and a main study, we evaluated the psychometric properties and separability of the three components per questionnaire using a Mokken scale analysis. Removing various dysfunctional items resulted in questionnaires with appropriate psychometric properties and high reliability. Results of the analysis for the separability of the attitude components revealed no distinction could be made between the components in the teachers' and parents' questionnaire. In the students' questionnaire, the items belonging to the cognitive and affective/behavioral components were distinguished as two scales.

Despite the growing introduction of inclusive education, children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) are barely included. Because an underlying factor here may be the attitudes of those directly involved, the present study focuses on the attitude of parents and relating variables concerning experience with individuals with disabilities. A selfreport questionnaire was completed by 190 parents of children attending general primary schools in the north of the Netherlands. Although parents showed an overall positive attitude, they were most negative about the inclusion of children with PIMD. In addition, no "experience with individuals with disabilities" was slightly negatively associated with the parents' attitudes. To overcome barriers of the inclusion of children with PIMD, such as negative parental attitudes, the outcomes of the present study are discussed in the light of possible interventions.