Background. Inclusion is the practice of educating children with special needs in the same setting as typically developing children. Teachers play a vital role in inclusive education for they are directly in contact with the students. Teachers' skill in applying effective teaching strategies to meet students’ various needs is a major challenge in inclusive education. Such skills need teacher’s continuous learning.

Teacher learning is a compilation of new and pre-existing knowledge. The events in teacher’s personal history build their attitudes and belief systems. Attitude changes can occur when teachers assimilate new beliefs or perceptions into their belief systems. Attitude is defined as a disposition to respond favorably or unfavorably to an object, person, institution, or event.

Attitudes are influenced by various factors, one of them being personality traits. A previous study found that teacher’s attitudes to inclusive education are related to domains in the Five Factor Model (FFM)’s personality traits by Costa and McCrae’s. They define trait as endogenous Basic Tendencies that give rise to consistent patterns of thoughts, feelings, and actions. In FFM, there are five traits: neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Attitude toward inclusive education correlates positively with openness to experience, which is associated with open mindedness towards new information. In another study, it was found that one of two factors that influences teacher’s retention in teaching students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (EBD) is personal factors such as intrinsic motivation, flexibility and enjoyment of variety, and genuine interest in children with EBD.

Teachers' attitude towards inclusive education is also influenced by experience and professional development. The lack of teacher’s understanding and training of inclusive education result in low commitment, and they may even confuse the concepts related to inclusion. In addition, related to teacher’s teaching experience, groups of teachers with less than 5 years of teaching experience have the most positive attitudes towards inclusive education, followed by teachers with 5-10 years of experience, and lastly teachers with more than 10 years of teaching experience.

Teacher’s personality traits and whether personality is related to teacher’s attitudes toward inclusive education is the main interest to conduct the study in Indonesia. Preschool teachers are the target population of this study, because preschool age (3-6 years) is a crucial period for children’s development, as they start to explore different settings and rules aside from their homes. Earlier intervention for children with special needs would benefit the child's development. Preschool teachers’ role is essential in supporting the development of children with special needs.

This study aims to find out whether there is a significant relationship between teacher’s attitudes toward inclusive education and teacher’s personality traits; that is whether each personality traits correlates significantly with the dimension of attitudes.

Methods. The study is a correlational study. The sample is 200 teachers of inclusive public and private preschools in Indonesia. Data are collected using accidental sampling method, in which participants are recruited based on their availability. The study uses Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness Personality Inventory (NEO-PI) adapted by Rizkiah et al. and Multidimensional Attitudes Toward Inclusive Education Scale – Versi Indonesia (MATIES VI) adapted for preschool teachers in Indonesia based on MATIES VI by Margijanto and Kurniawati for primary school teachers. NEO-PI is a self-report inventory that measures five traits from Costa and McCrae’s FFM. NEO-PI consists of 52 Likert type scale items, which response ranges from 1 (Very Unlikely) to 6 (Very Likely). MATIES VI is self-report inventory consisting of 3 dimensions: cognitive, affection, and behavior. It has 18 Likert-type scale items, with response ranging from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 6 (Strongly Agree). Data will be analyzed using Pearson’s Product Moment correlation analysis. There is additional analysis on the length of teaching experience and training experience on inclusive education. This analysis will use independent measure t-test for training experience and ANOVA for years of teaching experience.

Result. Ongoing data collection.

Conclusion. Ongoing research.

Added-Values. The study serves as a pioneer research of preschool teachers’ personality traits and attitudes towards inclusive education in Indonesia. The result is expected to portray preschool teachers’ attitudes and to what extent they relate to teachers’ own personalities, thus gives an input of what interventions would be necessary for teachers in order to implement an effective inclusive education in Indonesia.

Keywords: inclusive education, attitude, personality trait, teacher, preschool.

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