Pre-service teachers' attitudes toward inclusive mathematics education across teacher education programs

This study examines pre-service teachers' attitudes toward inclusive mathematics education and how these attitudes vary by teacher preparation experience and program type. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was used. In the quantitative component, data were collected from 570 pre-service teachers in preschool, primary school, and elementary mathematics teacher education programs at twelve universities across Türkiye, using the Teacher Attitude Scale Toward Inclusive Mathematics Education. The scale's factorial structure, reliability, and cross-program measurement equivalence were re-examined; exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a unidimensional structure with high internal consistency. Because the total score was non-normal, group differences were tested with non-parametric methods and a multivariable regression. Interviews with 18 pre-service teachers drawn from the quantitative sample were analyzed through content analysis. Pre-service teachers generally held positive attitudes. Primary school pre-service teachers scored significantly higher than preschool and elementary mathematics pre-service teachers, who did not differ; this difference persisted after demographic variables and course experience were controlled, but it was confined to participants who had taken an inclusive education course: without the course the three programs did not differ. Completing an inclusive education course was the strongest independent predictor of more positive attitudes. Qualitatively, the programs differed not only in attitude level but in the meaning attached to inclusion-participation and equal access for preschool and primary school pre-service teachers versus differentiation and instructional design for elementary mathematics pre-service teachers. A discipline-specific, program-differentiated framework for inclusive mathematics pedagogy is proposed to guide teacher preparation for teaching mathematics inclusively across the early and middle grades.