Youth attitudes to persons with disabilities in relation to the type of their school environment – a pilot study

Introduction
This article presents the results of research aimed at determining how a particular school environment affects positive attitudes towards persons with disabilities among youth attending rural and urban schools and a school with integrated classes.

Material and methods
The research process was based on diagnostic survey and questionnaire. The research tool applied was the Scale of Attitude Towards Persons with Disabilities (PWON) by Sękowski. The study included 200 respondents aged 14 and 15 years. They were young people attending three selected primary schools: one mainstream rural school, one mainstream urban school, and one mainstream urban school with integrated classes.

Results
ANOVA showed a statistically significant effect: F (2.198) = 148.28; p = 0.00; η2 = 0.59 which proves that the attitudes towards people with disabilities also depend on the type of schools attended by the compared groups. There were statistically significant differences between all compared groups of young people, out of which the respondents attending the mainstream urban school with integrated classes show the most positive attitude towards persons with disabilities.

Conclusions
Average level of positive attitude towards disabled persons in young people varies according to the type of school they attend. Based on data analysis, it was found that the type of school the investigated young people attend is a variable that significantly differentiates attitudes towards persons with disabilities.