© 2020 Elsevier Ltd There is little empirical attention in the literature to how beginning teacher perceptions in relation to inclusion change as they progress from the pre-service to novice teacher year. This paper reports on a panel study of a cohort of pre-service teachers in the Republic of Ireland, which tracks their transition to the novice teacher year using a new scale. Analysis of the data indicates that this transition results in a significant drop in attitude, perceived knowledge and self-efficacy in relation to inclusion.