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 15 / 18 on this, higher education institutions and educators should pay attention to the cultivation of pre-service teachers’ teach- ing motivation and the formation of inclusive education efficacy, care about pre-service teachers’ psychological growth and emotional needs, and stimulate pre-service teachers’ motivation and initiative toward inclusive education. It satisfies pre-service teachers’ intrinsic pursuit of a sense of significance and achievement toward inclusive education, to ultimately promote the generation of teachers’ attitudes toward inclusive education. Reflecting on the whole research process, it was found that there were some limitations. The main limitations are as fol- lows: this study used cross-sectional data and further longitudinal studies or experiments should be adopted in the future. This study only evaluates attitudes towards inclusive education from the perspective of individual pre-service teachers. Future research could examine the effects of empathy toward attitudes toward inclusive education from both pre-service and in-service teachers’ perspectives. Regarding the relationship between empathy and attitudes toward inclusive edu- cation, there may be other influencing factors, moderating variables, and mediating variables. Future researchers can pay more attention to the positive effects of empathy and explore another ways to enhance attitudes toward inclusive education. Conclusions

In conclusion, this study reveals the link between pre-service teachers’ empathy and attitudes toward inclusive educa- tion. It verifies the respective independent mediating role and chain mediating effect of teaching motivation and a sense of inclusive education efficacy. Educators must recognize the importance of empathy in inclusive education, enhance pre-service teachers’ teaching motivation, and inclusive education efficacy to improve attitudes toward inclusive education and build a harmonious and inclusive educational atmosphere. This provides essential information and theoretical founda- tions for interventions to enhance the quality of pre-service teacher training and inclusive education in China. Supporting information S1 Data. Minimum data set. (XLSX) Author contributions Conceptualization: Nana Jiang, Haijun Li, Soon-Yew Ju, Lai-Kuan Kong, Jing Li. Data curation: Nana Jiang, Haijun Li, Jing Li. Formal analysis: Nana Jiang. Funding acquisition: Nana Jiang. Investigation: Nana Jiang, Haijun Li. Methodology: Nana Jiang, Haijun Li, Soon-Yew Ju, Jing Li. Project administration: Nana Jiang. Resources: Nana Jiang. Software: Nana Jiang, Soon-Yew Ju, Jing Li. Supervision: Nana Jiang, Haijun Li, Lai-Kuan Kong. Validation: Nana Jiang. Visualization: Nana Jiang. Writing – original draft: Nana Jiang. Writing – review & editing: Nana Jiang, Haijun Li, Soon-Yew Ju, Lai-Kuan Kong, Jing Li.