An Investigation of Primary School Teaching Undergraduate Curriculum in Turkey in Terms of Inclusive Educatıon of Students with Disabilities
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Date
2021-07
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ISPEC Yayınevi
Abstract
Education is one of the determining elements of participation in social life. It plays an active
role in obtaining the gains needed to achieve successful and sustainable employment and
career. However, the situation is different when it comes to the education of children with
disabilities. Their need to be educated with peers and in the least restrictive environment,
rather than segregated schools or classrooms, is hampered by many deficiencies. Chief among
these deficiencies is the lack of awareness and knowledge of teachers about the
mainstreaming or inclusive education of children with disabilities. The aim of this study is to
determine whether primary school teachers acquire sufficient knowledge and awareness about
mainstreaming and/or inclusive education during their undergraduate education. In this study,
I used the document analysis method. I examined curricula of primary school teaching
departments at universities that randomly selected two universities from every seven regions
of Turkey, Marmara Region, Mediterranean Region, Black Sea Region, Aegean Region,
Central Anatolia Region, Eastern Anatolia Region, Southeastern Anatolia Region. I analyzed
the secondary data through content analysis. In the study, it was determined that there was
only one compulsory course under the names of special education and/or inclusive education,
sometimes together and sometimes separately. There often are some elective courses too. As a
result, the level of knowledge acquired by primary school teachers in undergraduate education
is insufficient for the success of the mainstreaming and/or inclusive education. For the success
of mainstreaming and/or inclusive education, it is necessary to carry out studies to increase
the awareness and knowledge level of primary school teachers about children with
disabilities’ education in the least restrictive environment. In addition, it is necessary to
update the course curricula of the primary school teacher candidates and add more
compulsory courses about the subjects of children with disabilities, special education, coping
with behavioral problems, and inclusive education, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder
and learning disability to the curriculum separately.
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Keywords
Children with disabilities, inclusive education, primary school teacher