Evaluation of the pre-service process of special education teaching

The main purpose of this study, which was designed as an explanatory sequential mixed research, is to examine the current special education teacher training process, to reveal what kind of a pre-service special education teacher training process is carried out in line with the opinions of the stakeholders (academicians, teachers and teacher candidates) involved in the process and to provide suggestions for improving the process. In the first step of the study, "Special Education Undergraduate Education Evaluation Questionnaire" was developed and applied to a total of 375 participants, including 119 academicians, 124 teachers and 132 teacher candidates. Descriptive and content analyses of the data collected from the questionnaire were conducted. In the second step of the study, semi-structured interview questions were prepared in the light of the findings obtained from the quantitative dimension. Interviews were conducted with a total of 33 participants, including 12 academicians, 10 teachers and 11 teacher candidates. According to the data obtained from the research, the most important factor affecting the pre-service process in special education is the lack of quality and number of academics and the importance of academics attach to teacher training. It can be said that factors such as the obligation to publish in the promotion of academicians and the fact that the acts related to teacher training do not have a point equivalent in the promotion criteria negatively affect the process, as well as the fact that the number of teacher candidates is high and the number of academicians is low negatively affects the quality of teachers.