HDR Candidate: Wilkes, Josiah


Title of Project Christian Approaches to Special Education: The Relationship Between Religious Belief and Attitudes Towards Inclusion.
Course of Study Doctor of Philosophy
Language of Instruction English
Abstract

It has long been held that a teachers’ attitude towards inclusion is the most significant predictor for the successful implementation of inclusive education. While many studies have tried to understand variables that affect a teachers’ attitude towards inclusion, few have explored how religious belief may influence attitudes towards inclusion. This is an essential focus for educational research, as it is possible that adherence to certain religious beliefs correlates either positively or negatively towards inclusion. To this end, the researcher intends to explore the nature of Christian approaches to Special Education. The researcher also hopes to understand correlations that may exist between religious belief and inclusive attitudes. The project will follow a mixed method explanatory sequential design that will allow the researcher to explain the phenomenon and identify correlations in the qualitative and quantitative phases. The Theory of Planned Behaviour will be the conceptual framework utilised in this study, as this is a widely used framework in studies concerning attitude theory. In this project, another lens of, ‘pneumatological imagination’ will be introduced to this more established framework. The researcher expects that specific lived theologies will correlate either positively or negatively with inclusive attitudes. It is anticipated that lived theologies of interdependence will correlate positively with positive attitudes toward inclusion.