Difficulties encountered in the professional life of music teachers working in special education application schools

In this study, it is aimed to determine the difficulties encountered by music teachers working in special education practice schools in their professional lives and to make suggestions for them. For this purpose, a survey consisting of four parts (personal information, lesson environment, school administration and parent relations, readiness and competence) was prepared. The prepared survey was applied to 57 music teachers who voluntarily participated in the research, among the music teachers working in the second level of special education practice schools in the Marmara Region, affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in the 2019-2020 academic year, and the opinions of the teachers on the subject were determined. As a result of the research, the difficulties experienced in the course environment were found as the insufficient size of the classroom, no sound insulation, insufficient lesson hours, disruptions of the lesson plans by the absenteeism of the students, the lack of sufficient resources related to music in special education, and the deficiencies in the special education music curriculum. In addition, it was determined that there were no problems with the school management, and regarding parent relations, it was determined that the only problem was that the topics covered in the classroom were not repeated at home. When the difficulties related to readiness and competencies are examined, it can be seen that the special education course taken at the university is not sufficient in terms of its contribution to their professional life, the teachers have difficulties in cooperating with the families of the students, the limited number of studies on music education in special education in our country, so that they cannot benefit from these studies professionally. It is seen that there are difficulties due to the need for in-service training before starting the job. For this reason, it is recommended to increase studies on music in special education in our country, to encourage experts in the field to produce more resources, and to support music teachers in special education with in-service training.