Relevance (context) of the subject of the article. Inclusive culture is one of the fundamental components of the inclusive environment of educational organizations. The study of this parameter, including the inclusive culture of preschool educational institutions, and its significance for inclusive practice remains relevant in Russian science.
The aim of the study. The work carried out a pilot study of the inclusiveness of the culture of a preschool educational organization as a factor that can influence the subjective readiness of teachers to apply inclusive practices in the context of the inclusion of children with special educational needs.
Methods of the study. The study was conducted using adapted scales-questionnaires, compiled on the basis of those used in international studies. The adaptation included changing the statements of the questionnaires for use in a preschool educational organization. The number of statements in the questionnaires and Likert scales remained unchanged. The following scales were used: attitudes towards inclusion, concerns about teaching in an inclusive environment, teachers’ self-efficacy in implementing inclusive practices, and intentions to implement inclusive practices. Questionnaires are given in appendices A, B, C, D. The sample consisted of 20 respondents, employees of preschool organizations in Moscow, including 15 educators, 2 tutors and 3 support specialists (speech therapist, special educator, educational psychologist).
Description of the research progress. The obtained results show that the attitude towards inclusion among teachers is ambiguous: most teachers are more likely to accept the values of inclusion, some of them are closer to undecided and 2 respondents expressed a negative attitude. The willingness to implement inclusive practices was reflected in the indicators of self-efficacy scales and the intention to implement inclusive practices. Correlation analysis showed that the scales of self-efficacy and intention were statistically significantly (p<0.001) positively associated with a high close relationship on the Chaddock scale, while there was a trend between the scales of attitudes towards inclusion and concern about difficulties in implementing inclusive practices (0.05<p<0.1) to a moderate negative relationship.
Research results. Thus, the set of methods used for the first time in the Russian sample revealed the contradictory nature of attitudes towards inclusion in the organization and the likely lack of support for it, which may indicate insufficient inclusiveness of the culture of the ECE. At the same time, the readiness to implement inclusive values among most teachers may indicate a personal commitment to their implementation.