To be or not to be an inclusive teacher: Are empathy and social dominance relevant factors to positive attitudes towards inclusive education?

Abstract

Positive inclusive teacher attitudes are a key factor in achieving inclusive education due to the many benefits they generate for schools and social contexts. Studies have focused on analysing which variables may promote positive attitudes. The objective of this study was to analyse the predictive power of sociodemographic variables, empathy (cognitive and emotional), and social dominance orientation (social dominance and opposition to equality) on teachers’ attitudes, sentiments, and concerns about inclusion by comparing linear relationship models and models based on fuzzy-set comparative qualitative analysis. The sample consisted of 268 teachers of different educational levels aged between 20 and 64 years (M = 42.46, SD = 9.22), 66% of whom were women. The teachers were administered the Sentiments, Attitudes, and Concerns about Inclusive Education Revised (SACIE-R) scale, the Basic Empathy Scale (BES), and the Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) scale. Two different statistical methodologies were used: traditional regression models and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) models. The results of the regression models suggest that social dominance is the main predictor of attitudes, sentiments, and concerns about inclusion. Social dominance is negatively related to attitudes and positively related to sentiments and concerns. Only opposition to equality and emotional empathy are related to attitudes. On the other hand, the results of the QCA models suggest that low social dominance and high cognitive and emotional empathy, as well as female sex, predict higher levels of positive attitudes, sentiments, and concerns about inclusion. Since teachers interact most with students, it is important to be aware of how their empathy and social dominance orientations influence inclusion to develop intervention programmes that seek to train teachers in these capabilities.