Evaluation of the Special Education Practice School Religious Culture and Ethics Education Program from teacher's opinions

This research was carried out in order to evaluate the Religious Culture and Moral Education Curriculum for Students with Moderate-Severe Intellectual Disability and Autism Spectrum Disorder in terms of teachers' opinions. According to the review and literature review, postgraduate thesis studies to identify the difficulties in religious education of individuals who need special education are very limited. It has been determined that the existing studies are lacking in terms of examining the religious education of the moderately-severely mentally handicapped, and it has been decided to carry out such a study. The mixed method approach was used in the research. In order to use the mixed method, the design of the research was Dominant Status in Decision by Paradigm according to the design of Johnson and Onwuegbuzie (2004); It is modeled to be in Sequential Status in Decision by Time. The participants of the quantitative dimension of the research consist of 275 special education practice schools in Turkey in the 2020-2021 academic year, which include three levels of education. Thus, in the quantitative dimension of the research, 104 Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge; A total of 275 teachers, 171 of whom were special education teachers, were employed. The participants of the qualitative dimension of the research are from 7 geographical regions and 14 provinces that participated in the research in the 2021-2022 academic year and in the quantitative dimension; It consists of 28 teachers, 14 from Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge and 14 from special education branches. While the "Special Education Practice School DKAB Curriculum Evaluation Questionnaire" developed by the researcher and consisting of 49 questions was used to collect quantitative data in the research; In the collection of qualitative data, an "Interview Form" consisting of 17 questions was used, which was created by utilizing the results obtained from semi-structured and quantitative data. In the analysis of quantitative data in the research; arithmetic mean, percentage and frequency analysis were used. Qualitative data were analyzed with the content analysis technique, and sub-themes were formed by bringing them together within the framework of the target/content/educational situations and measurement-evaluation themes of the Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge curriculum. Quantitative and qualitative data, which were defined and presented in detail, were combined and processed in the findings section of the research in accordance with the nature of the mixed method. In the conclusion part, the findings obtained from the research were evaluated by supporting the theoretical information and it was tried to find answers to the difficulties of religious education of individuals with moderate-severe mental disabilities. As a result of the research, it was seen that the teachers had a generally negative attitude about the updated Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge curriculum. According to the teachers, the program does not have the qualifications to have a positive impact on students' lives. The objectives of the program are often not suitable for the level of the student. In this context, the program should be purified from abstract goals and it should be ensured that the program consists of concrete goals as much as possible. The content of the program should be prepared in a simple and understandable way and should be updated considering the needs of the students. The program is not suitable for the student-centered education approach. For this, it was pointed out that there should be a Religious Culture and Moral Science branch classroom and the weekly course hours should be increased, and it was stated that the course should be taught with better facilities. In addition, teachers emphasized that they need extra support in terms of tools and materials, and that there should be smart boards and mobile applications. Textbook; design, quality pictures and activities should be developed in a way that is suitable for the student in terms of text/image ratio. The measurement and evaluation techniques suggested in the program are not suitable for measuring program achievements. Evaluation activities at the end of the unit do not meet the needs. For this, activities that address different learning areas, that allow diversified and technologically weighted measurement/evaluation should be created. When evaluated in general, it is thought that the Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge curriculum of the special education practice school should be updated by taking feedback from the field and the functionality of the program should be increased.