Examination of primary school and branch teacher's attitudes towards mainstream students

Mainstreaming is a private education applications system based on giving the opportunity to whom need special assistance for their education and maintain education together with their peers with normal development at formal and private preschools, elementary and secondary schools and informal education institutions with supportive educational services. The success of mainstreaming application depends on the co-operation of the stakeholders - parents, teachers, school administrators, students with normal development - and their parents. In other words, mainstreaming is a team work. An important factor that will increase success in mainstreaming education is the teachers' attitude. Teacher's attitude has an important impression on the development of mainstreaming students. Giving results regarding the context of research purpose and sub-objectives, it is stated that the inclusion students disrupt the class order and have to be in a special class instead of a normal class. Male teachers were more involved in the idea that inclusion students are not required in classrooms. Attitude towards inclusion education were found to be negative by teachers aged 51 years or older. Teachers who do not have inclusion students in their classes stated more negative opinions. When compared to subject teachers, it is seen that classroom teachers have more negative attitude towards the inclusive education. This research is a descriptive study, based on screening models. The research is applied to 258 teachers working in 36 primary school and secondary scholl in the province of Elazığ. In the research analysis, SPSS 22 package program was used for conclusion. As a consequence, male teachers, 51 years old and elder ages, teachers with long tenure and the ones who have not given mainstream education are against and have negative attitude for mainstream education. It is revealed that teachers commonly think that students who need special assistance for education should be educated by special teachers in special classes. Key Words: Mainstreaming, education, special needs children.