The effect of special education teaching practice support education portal on the teaching skills of teacher candidates

In this study, it was aimed to examine the effect of the Special Education Teaching Practice Support Education Portal (ÖZUDEP) developed within the scope of the research on pre-service teachers' teaching skills. The study was conducted as a mixed method research designed in accordance with a multi-stage design in which qualitative and quantitative data were used together. In the needs assessment phase of the study, qualitative interviews were conducted with 10 instructors. In line with the analysis of qualitative data, the needs of pre-service teachers were determined and a portal was developed accordingly. The quantitative data of the study were obtained from the experimental (n=30) and control (n=30) groups determined by random assignment. The primary quantitative data of the study were obtained by performing paired samples t-test analysis of the pretest and posttest scores applied to the experimental group. Secondary quantitative data were obtained by analyzing the posttest scores of the experimental and control groups with independent samples t-test. Qualitative data were collected from 12 pre-service teachers in the experimental group through semi-structured interviews and analyzed descriptively. The findings of the study revealed that there was a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the pre-service teachers who used ÖZUDEP in favor of the post-test. There was a significant difference between the posttest scores of the experimental group and the control group in favor of the experimental group. The quantitative findings of the study showed that ÖZUDEP had positive effects on pre-service teachers' teaching skills related to skills teaching, concept teaching and daily plan preparation. The qualitative findings of the study also revealed that ÖZUDEP had positive effects on teaching skills. Keywords: Special education, teaching practice, teacher candidates