Measuring Teachers’ Inclusive Education Literacy: A Scale Development Study

Abstract

Inclusive education aims to create equitable and accessible learning environments where all students, regardless of their abilities, disabilities, or backgrounds, receive quality education and fully engage in the learning process. Teachers play a critical role in ensuring inclusive education, yet there is a lack of comprehensive assessment tools to evaluate their competencies in this field. Addressing this gap, this study aimed to develop and validate the Teacher Inclusive Education Literacy Scale (TIELS) to measure teachers’ knowledge, planning skills, instructional practices, and professional development engagement in inclusive education. The scale development process followed a systematic, multi-phase approach, including a comprehensive literature review, expert validation, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and reliability testing. The study sample consisted of 310 teachers from various educational levels and subject areas. EFA results confirmed a four-factor structure, explaining 66.63% of the total variance, supporting the theoretical foundation of the scale. The factor loadings ranged from 0.50 to 0.87, while item-total correlation values were between 0.47 and 0.71, indicating strong construct validity. Furthermore, Cronbach’s Alpha values were 0.96 for the overall scale, with subdimension reliabilities ranging between 0.93 and 0.95, confirming high internal consistency. The findings indicate that TIELS is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing teachers’ inclusive education literacy. This study contributes to the field by providing a comprehensive and empirically tested measurement tool applicable in diverse teaching contexts and educational settings.