BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
Inclusion as an educational challenge: perspectives from higher education students
Provisionally accepted
Irune Corres-Medrano1,2*
Fayrouz El Kattab1- 1Department of Basic Psychological Processes and their Development, Faculty of Psychology, University of the Basque Country, San Sebastián, Spain
- 2Universidad del Pais Vasco, Leioa, Spain
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This study explores the knowledge and perceptions of psychology students at the University of the Basque Country (Spain) regarding inclusive education and the integration of inclusive content and practices into their academic training. A mixed-methods design was employed, pre–post design with a targeted educational intervention consisting of a structured 4 hour film forum program delivered in a single training session. Data were collected from 59 students (8 men, 51 women; 20–23 years), using a 12 item knowledge questionnaire administered pre/post and an open ended prompt. Quantitatively, students’ knowledge of inclusion increased from pre (M = 0.86, SD = 0.098) to post-intervention (M = 0.89, SD = 0.097). Qualitatively, the Reinert lexicographic analysis (DHC and similarity) identified five thematic classes spanning educational and personal dimensions and underscored the need for specific, applied, and ethically grounded training; similarity analysis further portrayed inclusion as a complex, multidimensional construct. The findings highlight explicitly embedding inclusion across Psychology curricula and strengthening practice oriented, ethically situated learning, to better prepare future professionals to address inclusion meaningfully.
Keywords: educational intervention4, higher education2, inclusion1, mixed methods5, psychology students3, social justice6
Received: 10 Nov 2025; Accepted: 04 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Corres-Medrano and El Kattab. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Irune Corres-Medrano
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