Latvian College Students' Perspectives on Inclusion

Overview & Synopsis

This study reports on the perspectives of 79 Latvian college students' perception of inclusion of children with disabilities. Education majors from the University of Latvia and non-education majors from Riga Technical University responded to a 27-item Likert scale format and four open-ended questions by filling out an electronic survey. A principal components factor analysis of the data was conducted yielding three factors. The three-factor structure was similar to a previous study, with the first two factors being reversed. Males demonstrated greater variability on factor 1, negative effects of inclusion, than females, and education majors reported perceiving fewer benefits of segregating students with disabilities than non-education majors. Overall, the results indicate mixed perceptions of inclusion, and a need to educate both education and non-education majors on the benefits of inclusion.