Abstract

In Australia, there is a systemic shift towards creating inclusive education environments for all students. Hence, in-service and pre-service teachers need to have the necessary knowledge and skills to implement inclusive education, to cater for the diversity in their classrooms. Instruments to measure in-service and pre-service teacher self-efficacy for inclusive educational practice have been used widely over the past decade across many countries, however, instruments to measure inservice and pre-service teacher self-efficacy for teaching autistic students specifically are less common.

This study aimed to modify a pre-existing scale, known as the Autism Self-Efficacy Scale for Teachers (ASSET) to establish a questionnaire instrument that could explore Australian in-service and pre-service teacher self-efficacy for inclusive teaching of autistic students using strengths-based language. The total sample for this study comprised 813 participants, including 161 in-service teachers and 652 pre-service teachers. Through measurement invariance analysis conducted in IBM SPSS Amos version 31, this study found that although full scalar invariance was not established separate confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) demonstrated that all tested items accurately reflected the ASSET scale across both groups, indicating strong internal consistency and construct validity following language modifications. The instrument offers initial teacher education (ITE) providers and schools a practical way to benchmark and monitor teacher capability for autism-inclusive practice, target professional learning, and inform future inclusive practices, extending the paper’s implications for policy and practice.

Citation

Shearer, J., Porta, T., Mangan, C. et al. Reliability and validity of strength‑based language modifications to the autism self‑efficacy scale for teachers (ASSET). Aust. Educ. Res. 53, 24 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-025-00922-5