Investigating theattitudes of special educated physical education prospective teachers towards disabled people

Abstract

Purpose: It’s aimed in this study to investigate the attitudes of physical education prospective teachers who had special education lessons towards disabled ones. Material: The quantitative sample of the study consisted of 214 [n = 84 female, n = 130 male] physical education prospective teachers and the qualitative sample consisted of 19 physical education prospective teachers. Data collected with Findler, Vilchinsky and Werner (2007), “Multidimensional Attitude Scale for the Disabled” and which is adapted in Turkish according to Turkish culture by Yelpaze and Türküm (2018), and with a semi-structured interview form. Independent sample t test and one way anova were used in the analysis of quantitative data. Descriptive and content analysis used for qualitative data analysis. Results: There is no significant difference according to gender and being close to individuals with special needs. It is found that there is a difference between thoughts and behaviors according to the experiences of having special education and students with special needs. In the qualitative part of the research, the theme was “Inability to describe emotions”,“ Positive attitude”, “Feeling benefical” and “Insufficient attention”. Conclusions: It is clear from the study that having special education and experienced with special needed people effected thinking attitudes of prospective teachers. However, a decrease concluded about behavior attitudes then after having special education and experiences with disableds. Qualitative findings explain those results like content and extent of special education is not good enough.