An Evaluation on Mainstreaming Practices of Primary Schools According to the Views of School Administrators, Teachers, and Parents

Individuals are born with various skills and needs. They enter into a life-long process of meeting these needs and developing the correct usage and appropriateness of these skills. The process of making intentional changes in one's life through behavior is called education. No one can be deprived of their right to education. Education is every individual's constitutional right and it is compulsory. This is stated in the 59th amendment of the Northern Cyprus Constitution as follows: "Every child regardless of gender must receive education until the age of fifteen and they have the right to free education until the age of eighteen." This study investigates through comparison the views of administrators, teachers, and parents on the application of mainstreaming in primary schools. This research uses the qualitative research method. In order to consult the opinions of the participants on mainstreaming applications, a semi-structured interview form was prepared. The data collected from the research was analyzed using the content analysis method. The data from the content analysis was analyzed in four stages. These stages are coding the data, finding the themes, arranging the data according to the codes and themes, and interpreting the data. For the study group, 10 administrators, 14 teachers, and 12 parents were included in the research. This study found that the requirements for mainstreaming are not sufficient nor did is there enough information, that normal class teachers are insufficient in their knowledge, that families cannot accept their child's situation, that there is little participation in class, that classes are disorderly, and that there is also a problem with "normal" children in their approach to children with special needs. As a result of the study, the majority of participants agreed that special education teachers should either work on their own or in collaboration with class teachers during the preparation stage of mainstreaming. Almost a quarter of the participants stated that preparations for mainstreaming are done by the class teacher. More than 75% of the participants stated that support services are provided for mainstreaming applications, while less than 75% of them said partial support is provided.