The effects of training about instructional adaptations of importance for inclusive education on primary school teachers' opinions

The ability of teachers to make instructional adaptations has an important place in the process of successful inclusion practices. Therefore, students with special needs would be able to experience an effective and productive educational process and would become individuals who have gained independent living skills that are useful for themselves and for society. The aim of this research is to determine the effectiveness of training which was developed by the researcher about instructional adaptations of importance on the opinions of primary teachers who have student/s with special needs. In the study, mixed method combining qualitative and quantitative research approaches and multi-stage mixed pattern was used as the research design. The study was carried out through four main stages; i. determination of opinions (pre-test), ii. preparation of informational package and implementation of informational package, iii. determination of the effectiveness of training (post-test) and iv. determination of social validity of application of the training. Qualitative data of the study were collected focus group interviews, quantitative data of the study were collected using demographic information form, the Scale of Instructional Accommodation collected for Inclusion (SIAI) and social validity data is using Social Validity Form. The number of teachers in the participant group of the research varied according to the research stages: in determination of requirements stage; focus group interviews (21 participants) and SIAI (pre-test) applied with 60 participants (30 participants for experiment and 30 participants for control group); in preparation of information package stage; 30 participants (for experiment), determination of effectiveness of implementation stage; SIAI (post-test) applied with 60 persons (30 participants for experiment and 30 participants for control group) and focus group interviews with 10 participants. Findings revealed from the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the research showed that the implementation of informational package prepared for instructional adaptations to the inclusion was effective on changing positive the opinion of primary teachers who have student/s with special needs regarding adaptations in inclusion implementations. In addition, the research's findings of the social validity indicated that the primary teachers who have student/s with special needs indicated positive argument for the implementation of informational package about instructional adaptations.