Pre-service teachers’ empathy and attitudes toward inclusive education—The chain mediating role of teaching motivation and inclusive education efficacy

PLOS One | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0321066 April 29, 2025 1 / 18 OPEN ACCESS Citation: Jiang N, Li H, Ju S-Y, Kong L-K, Li J (2025) Pre-service teachers’ empathy and attitudes toward inclusive education—The chain mediating role of teaching motivation and inclusive education efficacy. PLoS One 20(4): e0321066. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0321066 Editor: Sergio A. Useche, University of Valencia: Universitat de Valencia, SPAIN Received: August 25, 2024 Accepted: March 2, 2025 Published: April 29, 2025 Copyright: © 2025 Jiang et al . This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data availability statement: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files. Funding: This study received support from a fund that is part of the Key Project of Scientific Research of Higher Education Institutions in RESEARCH ARTICLE Pre-service teachers’ empathy and attitudes toward inclusive education—The chain mediating role of teaching motivation and inclusive education efficacy Nana Jiang 1, Haijun Li2, Soon-Yew Ju 3*, Lai-Kuan Kong 4, Jing Li 1* 1 School of Teacher Education, Heze University, Heze, China, 2 Zhoulou Primary School, Heze, China, 3 Faculty of Administrative Science and Policy Studies, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Pahang Branch, Raub, Pahang, Malaysia, 4 Faculty of Business and Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)

Pahang Branch, Raub, Pahang, Malaysia * lijing64609@163.com (JL); drsyju@gmail.com (S-YJ) Abstract Recently, inclusive education has become the direction of special education devel- opment. Inclusive education requires that teachers’ educational philosophies and approaches meet the needs of all students. Since pre-service teachers are future educators in training, it is vital to investigate their perspectives on inclusive educa- tion. Pre-service teachers’ attitudes, ability and views of inclusive education have an impact on the success of inclusive education practice. However, little literature has examined the influence of psychological mechanism of pre-service teachers toward inclusive education, i.e., the impact of empathy on pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward inclusive education and the mediating effects of teaching motivation and inclusive education efficacy toward the aforementioned relationship. Thus, this study employed Stimulus-Organism-Response’s (S-O-R) model to underpin the research framework that examines the relationship between pre-service teachers’ empa- thy and attitudes toward inclusive education and the mediating effects of teaching motivation and inclusive education efficacy in the Chinese context. Quantitative data through survey questionnaires was collected from 480 Chinese pre-service teach- ers and analysed using PLS-SEM. Findings suggested that pre-service teachers’ empathy directly predicted teaching motivation, inclusive education efficacy, and attitudes toward inclusive education. Teaching motivation and inclusive education

efficacy together play a chain mediating role in the relationship between empathy and pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward inclusive education. The results of this study offer a theoretical framework that explains in detail the psychological mechanisms underlying the effects of pre-service teachers’ empathy, teaching motivation, and inclusive education efficacy on attitudes towards inclusive education. The research findings also provide practical guidance for the professional development of teachers, talent cultivation, and the development of inclusive education in higher education.