Education for all in action: Measuring teachers’ competences for inclusive education

[31]. Rather, it becomes an inclusive culture that all teachers adhere to in the classroom [6], and which requires a constant effort of teachers to continuously monitor, evaluate and adapt their teaching methods to best suit the needs of the students present [32]. In such an endeav- our, self-efficacy could constitute a powerful resource, as self-efficacy beliefs have proven to be powerful predictors of teachers’ motivation and actual performance [33], with a high sense of self-efficacy being especially powerful in the face of adversity in order to persevere when faced with difficulties or failure [19]. Importantly, research has shown that self-efficacy is not unidimensional, but tends to be context- and task-specific [34]. Consequently, it is important to consider teachers’ self-efficacy with regards to several necessary tasks to create inclusive classroom environments rather than one overall assessment. At the same time, it remains important to employ a broad definition of diversity in order to truly capture EfA and the intersectionally diverse nature of classroom con- texts nowadays, rather than narrowing the focus to a specific diversity group (note that such teaching self-efficacy scales do exist, such as the ones focused on ethnic diversity developed by Siwatu [35] or Romijn, Slot [36], or focused on students with a disability by Sharma, Loreman [37]). Hence, in this research, teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs with respect to several central aspects of realizing inclusive learning environments will be assessed. That is: 1) noticing diver-

sity, 2) creating powerful learning environments for diverse students, and 3) realizing positive classroom interactions for diverse students. The first subcomponent of noticing diversity, taps the extent to which teachers see themselves capable of actively gathering information on sev- eral aspects of student diversity (f.i., students’ background, interests, well-being, . . .). Only when teachers are aware of and exploit these differences, can a classroom environment be maximally adapted to the strengths and needs of every student [38]. In tandem with this notic- ing, the second subcomponent taps the extent to which teachers feel capable to design a class- room environment that takes into account the strengths and needs of their students. The third subcomponent measures the extent to which teachers feel capable to create positive classroom climates for their students, since research has shown both the impact teachers have on the cre- ation of qualitative relationships among students [39] as well as the vital importance of this for at-risk students’ well-being and achievement [40]. Note that by delineating these aspects, this paper does not explicitly follow the oft-used distinction in teachers’ self-efficacy research in- between instructional strategies, classroom organisation and student engagement [41,42]. This choice was fuelled by researchers noting that EfA does not necessarily require new teaching practices, but rather an awareness of diversity and a goal-orientation towards equitable learn-

ing opportunities in what teachers do [6,43]. For instance, within the aspect of positive class- room interactions can cooperative learning be linked to both student engagement and instructional strategies [44]. Hence, we felt that an instrument designed to grasp teachers’ effi- cacy for inclusive education would be better served by recognizing this complex intermingling of goals and methods rather than a strict distinction in-between instructional strategies, class- room organisation and student engagement. As discussed above, there is currently a lack of valid instruments to grasp teachers’ compe- tence for inclusive education, due to the institutional complexity and broad scope of EfA. That is, to truly capture competence for EfA, researchers require an instrument that considers both teachers willingness to work on inclusion (i.e., beliefs) as well as their perceived capabilities to create inclusive learning environment (i.e., self-efficacy). Furthermore, existing instruments tend to focus on either a specific teaching sub-component, such as class management or differ- entiated instruction, or on a specific student group, such as students with a disability or ethnic minority background, while EfA transcends specific diversity groups and encompasses several educational processes necessary for maximal learning outcomes. Hence, the goal of this article is to establish a valid and reliable instrument to measure teachers’ beliefs and self-efficacy with PLOS ONE Measuring teachers’ competences for inclusive education

PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291033 November 8, 2023 4 / 22