The examining of the application of music and play lesson at the middle school level of special education practice schools (Example of Ankara city)

Our country has various institutions for the education activities of individuals with special education needs. Special Education Practice Schools under the Ministry of National Education can be given as an example. Medium or high-level autistic students and medium or high-level mental deficiency students are educated in Special Education Practice Schools. When the first and second level weekly curriculum of the related school is investigated, three hours per week music and play lesson draw attention. In this study, the purpose was to investigate the effectiveness of music and play lesson teaching at the middle school level of Special Education Practice Schools. This study used the case study model among qualitative research methods. The study group consisted of 20 staffed music teachers working in the middle school level of Special Education Practice Schools in Ankara city in the 2019-2020 academic term. The study data were collected with semi-structured interview forms and analysed with the content analysis method. Within the scope of this study, music and play lesson taught in Special Education Practice Schools were investigated by considering various components of education. Accordingly, findings related to (a) students who took music and play lesson, (b) the environment where the lesson is conducted, (c) lesson preparation process, (d) lesson application, (e) shows organised as lesson outcomes, (f) lesson measurement and assessment and (g) teachers' expectations and recommendations were presented. In this regard; In addition to autism and mental disability groups, it has been determined that there are students with multiple disabilities in institutions, and with some exceptions, students generally have a positive attitude towards music and play lessons. While some of the Special Education Practice Schools are organized as separate schools or separate classes according to the types of disability, the other schools continue education in the form of mixed education. While half of the schools interviewed are well-equipped about music and play lessons, it is found that there are inadequacies that hinder education in the other half. In addition to these, it is determined that the sources are insufficient to give customized music and play lessons to individuals with special needs during the preparation process of the class. Still, teachers take care to organize appropriate activities to the students' level while preparing the lesson. In the implementation of the lesson, rhythm instruments, Orff instruments, and keyboard instruments are mostly used; Almost all of the teachers made use of technology in the lesson at a basic level; It is understood from the teachers' opinions that mostly rhythm exercises, musical/educational plays, and singing activities are used during the lesson. In addition to these, it has been determined that teachers create activities that support various development areas of students, and they mostly use the Orff approach and show-and-make method in the lesson. Besides, it is observed that the teachers benefit from the reward-punishment methods and collaborate with the classroom teacher to a significant extent in managing students' in-class behaviors. They also faced the difficulties experienced intensely due to the special needs of the students while conducting the lesson. While some teachers try to implement crisis management with various activities in the face of these difficulties, other teachers prefer to get support from classroom teachers for intervention. In addition, while it is stated that demonstrations were organized as a course outcome in all schools, it is understood that a significant part of the teachers did not make assessments and evaluations. There was no systematic and planned assessment-evaluation process in music and play lessons. Finally, it is determined that the teachers working in the field have expectations for increasing the educational resources for the most field, making arrangements in the music and play lesson curriculum of the Ministry of National Education, and making educational arrangements targeting individuals with special needs in music teaching undergraduate programs.