578
The Views of Pre-School Teachers
about Integration
Gülçin VARLIER
*
, Sezgin VURAN
**
Abstract
The pre-school education of children with special needs is necessary for their social
acceptance and integration to the society. This necessity is determined by the laws
in Turkey and its continuity is based upon the integration. This study aims at des-
cribing the opinions of pre-school teachers on the pre-school education of children
with special needs through integration. The data were collected through semi-struc-
tured interviews. Qualitative data were analyzed descriptively. Thirty female pre-
school teachers who were working for the Ministry of National Education, in a pro-
vince center in Middle Anatolia Region during the academic year of 2002-2003 par-
ticipated in the study. All the participants were teachers who had students with spe-
cial needs. According to the findings, all the teachers in the study think that children
with special needs should have pre-school education. Most of the teachers indicated
that pre-school education should be given through integration for children with spe-
cial needs. Furthermore, the teachers in this study expressed that they were not
qualified on integration and the working conditions were insufficient.
Key Words
Integration/Inclusion, Pre-school Education, Qualitative Research.
© 2006 E¤itim Dan›flmanl›¤› ve Araflt›rmalar› ‹letiflim Hizmetleri Tic. Ltd. fiti. (EDAM)
*
Teacher in Dumlup›nar Elementary School.
**
Correspondence: Assist. Prof. Dr. Sezgin VURAN, Anadolu University Faculty of Education Special
Education Department 26470 Eskiflehir, Turkey. E-Mail: svuran@anadolu.edu.tr
Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice
6 (2) • May 2006 • 578-585