OPINIONS, CONCERNS, AND ATTITUDES TOWARD DISABILITY: GIVING VOICE TO PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS

The way disability is represented by pre-service special education teachers plays a crucial role in fostering inclusive education processes. This study, conducted in 2023 using a two-year dataset collected at the University of Trento (Italy), explores the opinions, concerns, and attitudes of participants enrolled in the Training Course for Special Education Teachers at the end of their training. 80 participants—mainly adult women with varied teaching experience and diverse professional backgrounds—were involved through an anonymous online questionnaire consisting of both closedended items and two open-ended questions. The present analysis focuses specifically on the lexical qualitative examination of one open-ended question. Findings reveal that participants’ main concerns are not limited to managing disability per se but are strongly influenced by the school context, particularly regarding collaboration between special education teachers and class teachers. The occurrences of terms such as colleagues, class, environment, and isolation highlight the awareness of systemic and relational barriers that hinder inclusion. Lexical analysis identified two levels of disability representation: the individual dimension (focused on deficits and needs) and the contextual dimension (focused on environmental and organizational factors): the occurrence of items such as fragility, severity, support and fear reflect a complex emotional landscape, marked by a sense of responsibility, professional insecurity and a desire for cooperation.