Developing teacher training process in special education: The case of Anadolu University

The special education teaching program was combined under a single roof with the decision of the Council of Higher Education (CHE) in 2016. With this decision, teaching programs for the hearing impaired, mentally handicapped, visually impaired and gifted/special talents were organized as a new and single undergraduate program under the name of "Special Education Teaching". Within the scope of the research, it is aimed to develop teaching practice in the special education teaching program. For this purpose, the study was designed as an action research. The research was carried out in the Special Education Department of a Anadolu University. Among the research participants are 19 faculty members, 24 undergraduate students, 12 special education teachers and two ministry officials. Within the scope of the research, semi-structured interview, participant information form, video recordings, documents and researcher's diary were used as data collection techniques. The data obtained from the research were analyzed with a systematic analysis approach. As a result of the research, arrangements were made in the areas needed regarding the teaching practice process in the special education teaching program. Steps such as reorganizing the evaluation criteria and establishing guidelines for the determination of the responsibilities of the stakeholders are among these regulations. With the COVID-19 pandemic, activities were carried out on material design and use in distance education, and the transfer of theoretical knowledge to the online teaching practice environment.