Investigating the self-efficacy perceptions of the preschool teacher candidates on inclusive education

The aim of this research is to determine the self-efficacy perception levels of the preschool teacher candidates in inclusive education and analyzing the self-efficacy perception levels of the candidate teachers on inclusive education in terms of variables; such as the type of school that they graduated before, interaction with individuals with special needs, the time of this interaction and whether they had inclusive students in the classrooms they made teaching practice. In this research, the descriptive survey model was used. The study group of the research consists of 107 volunteer senior students studying at Akdeniz University, Faculty of Education, and Department of Pre-school Education. Demographic information form created by the researcher and "The Teacher Efficacy for the Inclusion of Young Children with Disabilities Scale (TEIYCD)" were used as data collection tools in this study. Analysis of the research data was carried out with a statistical package program. According to the research findings; it was seen thatthe level of the self-efficacyperceptions of the preschool teacher candidates in inclusive education has a medium level.It was observed that there was no significant difference on the self-efficacy perceptions of the preschool teacher candidates on the scale of The TEIYCD and it's suscales in terms of the variables that the type of school that they graduated before, interaction with individuals with special needs, the time of this interaction, and whether they had inclusive students in the classrooms they made teaching practice. The findings of the research were discussed together with the findings in the literature and recommendations were made.