Investigating Kindergarten Teachers’ Knowledge, Attitude, Perceived Behavioural Control, And Behavioural Intention to Include Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in a Small Town in China: Based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour

Kindergarten is one of the first educational settings for human life. Kindergarten teachers’ behaviours affect not only the school experience of children with ASD themselves, but also the attitudes from their typical developing peers. Based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), this study investigated the general levels, inter-correlation, and influential personal characteristics of kindergarten teachers’ knowledge, attitude, and perceived behavioural control (PBC) for their behavioural intention of the inclusion of children with ASD. Discussion of the results will be provided for a comparison with relevant studies, possible explanation of the results, guidance for practice, and future study directions.

The order of the average scores from low to high is knowledge, attitude, PBC, and behavioural intention. Positive correlations were detected between attitude and PBC and between PBC and behavioural intention. Knowledge was influenced by participants’ kindergarten working years, whether having friends or relatives with family members with ASD, and previous relevant training experience. PBC was correlated with previous experience working with children with ASD. Behavioural intention was correlated with whether having friends and relatives who had family members with the condition.