Purpose: The present study was intended to investigate the relationship between teachers' self-efficacy, sentiments and concerns toward disability and burnout in pre-service special education teachers. Design/methodology/approach: Three hundred seventy-two special education teachers participated in the study. Participants were administered the…

The present study was aimed at contributing to the understanding of the role of pre-service special education teachers' attachment styles and empathy dimensions in sentiments, attitudes, and concerns towards disability. Participants were 536 pre-service special education teachers (78.4% females and 21.6% males), Results of the path analysis showed…

A hospital-based school is offered to hospitalised children with the aim of promoting school continuity and preventing disengagement from school; children have the chance to attend a hospital-based school with hospital teachers during long recoveries. The aim of this study is to obtain an in-depth understanding of hospital teaching: which training…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of problem-solving coping strategies in the relationship between thinking styles (legislative, executive, and judicial) and teachers' attitudes towards distance education (difficulties related to distance education and efficacy in distance education). The study sample consisted of 556…

The well-being of teachers is a critical concern with significant implications for teaching effectiveness and student outcomes. However, there exists a notable gap in the literature concerning the well-being of pre-service teachers. Moreover, there is a scarcity of research focusing on the unique challenges faced by prospective special education…

In March 2020, the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic hit Italy and had dramatic and unforeseen consequences for millions of schoolchildren. Students with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) were faced with drastic changes to their local environment caused by the lockdown. This impacted their ability to function in ways in which they…

This paper aims to bring research findings on the curricular teacher's and curricular support teacher's attitude toward students with intellectual disabilities. The results bring to imagine possible changes in the current training system that, deepening intellectual disability in discipline and laboratory terms, not necessarily and intentionally…

In the early decades of the twentieth century the question of mental disabilities was widely discussed in Italy, while the first special schools for the intellectually impaired were set up. An important role was played by the Franciscan friar Agostino Gemelli (1878-1959), a physician, renowned psychologist, and founder in 1921 of the Catholic…

The role of special education teachers is currently facing an extensive renewal process closely related to the professional transition from a narrow understanding of special education, rooted in the deficit paradigm, to a broader vision of inclusion as a whole-school and community action. Within such a process, student teachers' professional…

This study investigates collaborative attitudes and practices in mainstream Italian schools. Research questions are the following: what kind of teachers' and students' collaboration occurs in inclusive settings? To what extent did significant differences exist among general education teachers and support education teachers? To what extent did…

Aligned with the 10 Global Principles for Professional Learning in Gifted Education (WCGTC, 2021), this exploratory study investigated the co-construction of inclusive differentiated instruction for a fourth grade gifted student with three general education teachers in a North Italy public education primary school using learning menus and learning…

The journey towards inclusive education and collaborative practices in different countries is complex and interdependent within each unique geopolitical landscape. "Instructional Collaboration in International Inclusive Education Contexts" looks at the instructional collaboration between special education and general education in…

This article views appropriate processing time through various lenses considering diverse needs of students/children. After noting significant differences between school cultures of Italian (Reggio Emilia and Montessori) and U.S. schools, the researchers conducted a qualitative case study where they collected data from a heterogenous group of…

The purpose of the current study was to examine, within an integrative predictive model, the relative contributions of sociodemographic variables, personal resources, and work wellbeing to teacher burnout. The research was conducted with special education teachers at Italian preschools--a context in which few previous studies have been carried…

We present an experience of digital storytelling conducted as part of a course for initial teacher training. The students of a special education course produced a digital story as partial fulfillment of their distance learning assignment. We describe the structure of the work completed by the students and discuss the results of a questionnaire…