Examining the relationship between physical education and sports teachers' attitudes and competencies towards inclusive education

The aim of this research is to examine the attitudes and competencies of physical education and sports teachers towards inclusive education based on various variables, and to investigate the relationship between their attitudes and competencies towards inclusive education. In this research, which uses the correlational survey model, one of the quantitative research methods, the population consists of physical education teachers working in schools affiliated with the Ministry of National Education in Sivas province during the 2023-2024 academic year. The sample of the research consists of 319 (Female=87, Male=232) physical education teachers determined by the simple random sampling method. A research form consisting of three sections was used to collect data for the study. In the first section of the research form, prepared by the researcher, there are questions containing the sociodemographic information of the physical education teachers, while the second section includes the Attitudes Towards Inclusive Education Scale (ATIES) developed by Laçin and Taşlıbeyaz (2020) to determine the attitudes of teachers who conduct the inclusive education process towards inclusive education. In the third section, the Teacher Competence in Inclusive Practices Scale (TCIPS), developed by Sharma, Loreman, and Forlin (2011) and adapted into Turkish by Bayar (2015), was used to determine the competencies of teachers in inclusive education. The data obtained from the research were analyzed using the SPSS 22 package program. Before data analysis, Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests were applied to examine the normality of data distribution, and it was found that the data were normally distributed. Therefore, independent groups T-Test, one-way variance analysis, Pearson correlation test to determine the relationship between scale scores, and simple linear regression analysis to determine the effect between scale scores were used in the analysis of the data. According to the results of the research, variables such as gender, age, marital status, educational status, type of staff, type of school where the teacher works, duration of employment, being an inclusive student, and having received education on inclusive education did not cause a significant difference in the attitudes of physical education teachers towards inclusive education. However, variables such as participation in scientific research on inclusive education, having a relative receiving inclusive education, the desire to receive education on inclusive education, and the place where inclusive education was received caused significant differences. In terms of the competencies of physical education teachers towards inclusive education, variables such as gender, age, marital status, educational status, type of staff, type of school where the teacher works, duration of employment, participation in scientific research on inclusive education, being an inclusive student, having a relative receiving inclusive education, the desire to receive education on inclusive education, and the place where inclusive education was received did not cause significant differences, whereas the variable of having received education on inclusive education caused a significant difference. While a positive and moderate relationship was detected between teachers' attitudes and competencies towards inclusive education, it was concluded that their competencies in inclusive education significantly predicted their attitudes towards inclusive education.