An analysis of primary school administrators?, teachers? and school counselors? proficiency in assessing and directing students with special needs in inclusive and mainstreaming schools (A case study in greater Gaziantep area)

The study aimed at assessing school administrators?, general education teachers? and school counselors? level of proficiency in identifying students with Special Education Needs, as an administrative problem at primary school level. It also sought to provide some preliminary data wich would be used as the foundation of in-service training programs to be designed for students with Special Education Needs. The data were obtained from the proprotionately selected research population in Şehitkamil and Şahinbey districts of Greater Gaziantep Province, 85 school administrators, 499 primary school teachers and 10 school counselors in 26 primary schools joined the study as subjects during the 2009-2010 academic year.It is hoped that the study would contribute to the literature by creating a general awareness concerning students with Special Education Needs as an administrative problem. The study is important in that it is the first study conducted within the current population on students with Special Education Needs; beyond being a complementary part of an ongoing Social Support Project (SODES) in Gaziantep province.A special data collection tool was developed for the study. The responses given by the subjects were analyzed by using SPSS 15.0. Frequency analysis and crosstabulation were the major tools in statistical analyses. The findings indicate that school administrators, school counselors and primary school teachers have difficulty recognising and assesing students with special education needs and find themselves insufficent in the field of inclusive education. The schools, surveyed also seemed to lack basic inclusive infrastructure and physical conditions to meet special education needs in the province. In the light of findings, it is suggested that school administrators, school counselors and primary school teachers should be offered a comprehensive in-service training on inclusive education and students with special needs.Key words: Students With Special Education Needs, School Administrator, School Counselor, Primary Teacher, Mainstreaiming