Examination of administrative applications for students with special needs in Turkish and American universities

The most important process that develops, integrates, and changes societies is the education process. This process is the most significant factor in altering the individual's behavior, improving their knowledge and skills, and increasing their adaptation to society. The guarantee that education is a right is preserved by international documents. Nobody's right to education can be taken away due to their physical, mental, emotional, social, ethnic, cultural, or economic characteristics. Education, regardless of the level, should be structured so that it involves individuals with all their differences. In this process, of course, the most important task falls on education administrators. Educational administrators should be leaders who ensure social justice with an egalitarian management approach. Individuals with special needs, without doubt, constitute the most challenged group in their journey of education. Students with special needs (SWSNs) cannot access higher education at the same rate as they can access primary and secondary education. The practices of the administrators towards these students in Türkiye are a matter of curiosity. Besides, it was also aimed to investigate the practices in the United States of America (USA), which initiated inclusive education practices much earlier than Türkiye. For this purpose, administrative practices for students with special needs in Turkish and American universities were carried out as an intercultural study. Therefore, it was aimed to reveal the similarities and differences in the practices for students with special needs at universities in the two countries. This study was carried out with the academic staff and administrators of all levels at the university (e.g. deans, department heads, directors, etc., and those who have represented them for more than six months). The research was conducted at a total of four universities, two in Izmir, Türkiye and two in Chicago, the USA; and it was conducted with twenty participants, eleven from the universities in Türkiye and nine from the USA. The research was designed with the phenomenology pattern and was carried out between 2020 and 2023. The data of the study was obtained by conducting individual interviews with a semi-structured interview form. Some of the interviews in Türkiye were made face to face, whereas some of them were held online; and all of the interviews in the USA were conducted online. The data was analyzed by performing content analysis. The results revealed that the participants in Türkiye and the USA were aware of the legislation regarding SWSNs, that the websites of the universities should be more accessible for SWSNs, and that the participants in both countries were very positive about SWSNs and other students studying together in the same educational setting. However, it was determined that there was a concern in Türkiye that SWSNs might cause trouble if they had aggressive attitudes, and that SWSNs were disturbed in the USA in crowded classes and other students in the class were not happy with the questions of SWSNs. It was observed that faculty members in both countries were sensitive to the education of SWSNs. Nonetheless, it could also be said that there were concerns among the faculty members in terms of the possibility that some SWSNs would not be able to perform their professions properly in the future. It was also determined in the USA that some faculty members were closed to change and were not eager cooperate in the education of SWSNs. It was observed that in both countries, there was a principle of volunteering, an academic adaptation system, examination measures, permission for audio recording in class, and peer support practices for SWSNs; whereas there was a Student Success Center to increase student success in the USA, but not in Türkiye. It was also observed in both countries that the functioning of the units related to SWSNs in newly-established universities was inadequate in terms of functionality, management, and staff. It was determined that in both countries, faculty members lacked training on SWSNs and that there was a lack of curriculum and plans that were sensitive to SWSNs. It was observed that in both countries, special talents were not known and were neglected, they were not provided with adequate education and social-psychological support, and that studies needed to be carried out on SWSNs without visual impairments. Findings were obtained regarding the employing special education experts and psychologists in the units related to SWSNs and presenting pedagogical formation courses to faculty members during their research assistant periods or doctoral periods in Türkiye, and supervising and monitoring of academic adaptations in the USA. In addition to all these, the issue that the education of SWSNs is a legal obligation has come to the fore in the USA, while the individual efforts of the administrators were more prominent in Türkiye.