An assessment of the views of the classroom teachers, who have switched fields via 540 hours of special education certificate program, on their competence in the special education field

The views on their own competence of the classroom teachers, who have switched fields thanks to the certificate program conducted by The Ministry of Education, working at Special Education Schools or Classes are examined in this research. A total of 10 field switched teachers working at Special Education Schools or Classes affiliated to Bolu Provincial Directorate of National Education participated in this research voluntarily. When the demographical data of the participator teachers is reviewed, it has been witnessed that field-switching is preferred majorly because of spouse-related assignment rights. It was concluded that they had difficulties in the first periods but afterwards, they willingly stayed in this area. The relationship between the competence and the sub-variables such as gender, seniority, graduated school, currently working school, and the year of field-switching were examined thanks to the themes set by this research. It has been concluded that they are content with the certificate program for field-switching, but they had not been informed in advance about the field that they intended to switch to. While some teachers stated that they have received negative reactions by special education teachers, as they have switched to the field of special education, the others stated that they think they are not only competent in this field but also better at teaching how to read and write. The participants emphasized the importance of practice in improving oneself as well as the placement of it mainly in certificate program. They also stated that it would be beneficial if they had interaction with individuals with different kinds of disabilities. Semi-structured interview model was used in this research. The participants of the study consisted of teachers working at Special Education Classes and Special Education Schools of Bolu province in 2018-2019 academic year. The sample of the study is consisted of 10 teachers working in these institutions. An "Interview Form" prepared by the researcher was used to collect the data. Themes were created by using descriptive analysis in the analysis of the data. According to the results of the research it has been concluded that the education they received by the certificate program did not have considerable effect on the competence of the classroom teachers working at special education schools thanks to field-switching. It has also been reached that the trainers who were a part of this program did not lead a meaningful change, and field-switching by attending a certificate program is a malpractice. Various suggestions have been made in line with the results obtained.