Measuring Teachers’ Inclusive Education Literacy: A Scale Development Study

Year 2025, Volume: 7 Issue: 2, 58 - 75, 25.04.2025

Özgül Gültekin Talayhan , Şaban Çetin

https://doi.org/10.55236/tuara.1639455

Cited By: 1

Abstract

Inclusive education aims to create equitable and accessible learning environments where all students, regardless of their abilities, disabilities, or backgrounds, receive quality education and fully engage in the learning process. Teachers play a critical role in ensuring inclusive education, yet there is a lack of comprehensive assessment tools to evaluate their competencies in this field. Addressing this gap, this study aimed to develop and validate the Teacher Inclusive Education Literacy Scale (TIELS) to measure teachers’ knowledge, planning skills, instructional practices, and professional development engagement in inclusive education. The scale development process followed a systematic, multi-phase approach, including a comprehensive literature review, expert validation, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and reliability testing. The study sample consisted of 310 teachers from various educational levels and subject areas. EFA results confirmed a four-factor structure, explaining 66.63% of the total variance, supporting the theoretical foundation of the scale. The factor loadings ranged from 0.50 to 0.87, while item-total correlation values were between 0.47 and 0.71, indicating strong construct validity. Furthermore, Cronbach’s Alpha values were 0.96 for the overall scale, with subdimension reliabilities ranging between 0.93 and 0.95, confirming high internal consistency. The findings indicate that TIELS is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing teachers’ inclusive education literacy. This study contributes to the field by providing a comprehensive and empirically tested measurement tool applicable in diverse teaching contexts and educational settings.

Keywords

inclusive education , literacy , inclusive education literacy , scale development , teacher competencies

Ethical Statement

Declarations Conflict of Interest No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed by the author(s) with respect to the research, authorship, or publication of this article. Ethics Approval The formal ethics approval was granted by Gazi University Ethics Commission with the approval numbered “E.931339” and dated “24.04.2024”. Funding No specific grant was given to this research by funding organizations in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Research and Publication Ethics Statement Hereby, we as the authors consciously assure that for the manuscript “Measuring Teachers’ Inclusive Education Literacy: A Scale Development Study” the following is fulfilled: • This material is the authors' own original work, which has not been previously published elsewhere. • The paper reflects the authors' own research and analysis in a truthful and complete manner. • The results are appropriately placed in the context of prior and existing research. • All sources used are properly disclosed. Contribution Rates of Authors to the Article The authors provide equal contribution to this work. NOTE: This study is derived from an unpublished thesis entitled "Examining the Relationship Between Teachers' Inclusive Education Literacy Levels and Their Perceptions of Responsibility for Inclusive Education ", conducted under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Şaban ÇETİN.

References

• Vimala, T. S. (2023). Professional development for inclusion. Shanlax International Journal of Arts, Science and Humanities, 11(S1), 42–46. https://doi.org/10.34293/sijash.v11iS1i2‐Nov.7314