Investigating the implicit and explicit attitudes of primary school educators in Scotland towards autistic children

Abstract

Background: Autistic children are frequently taught in mainstream schools, and it is imperative educators have appropriate knowledge and attitudes towards autism. In Scotland, policy aims for inclusion. However, there are few studies investigating Scottish educator’s knowledge and attitudes towards autism, even though these could be a barrier to inclusion.Aims: This study investigated Scottish educator’s implicit and explicit attitudes towards autistic children. We also aimed to understand the relationships between attitudes, knowledge and experience.Sample: Seventy primary school educators working in Scotland took part, with a mean age of 43. Most were female (n=64) and had on average 12 years’ experience working in schools. Methods: Participants completed a Single-Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT), to assess implicit attitudes towards autism. They also completed two explicit attitude measures (openness to autism and cognitive attitudes), and measures of autism knowledge and level of contact.Results: Overall, participants held positive attitudes in explicit and implicit measures. Some participants (24%) expressed negative implicit attitudes. There were correlations between explicit attitudes, age and years of experience, with older, more experienced staff having more negative attitudes. In regression analyses, greater autism knowledge predicted more positive explicit cognitive attitudes towards autistic children.Conclusions: These findings indicate mostly positive attitudes in this sample. Younger educators with less experience may have more positive attitudes, perhaps reflecting societal changes in perceptions of autism. Greater knowledge predicted positive attitudes, suggesting that targeting knowledge may improve attitudes. Scotland’s policies may have the potential to support the effective inclusion of autistic pupils in schools.