Special Education Student Teachers’ Opinions about Online Supervision amidst COVID-19

Proceedings of The 3rd International Conference on Modern Research in Education, Teaching and Learning

Year: 2021

DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/3rd.icmetl/.2021.08.109

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Special Education Student Teachers’ Opinions about Online Supervision amidst COVID-19

Uzeyir Emre Kiyak & Gulcihan Yazcayir

 

ABSTRACT: 

One of the main issues in the educational systems is the quality of the teachers. The quality of the teachers is directly linked to teacher training programs which consist of theory and practice. Teaching practice is of great importance especially in special education departments. However, the COVID-19 Pandemic has resulted in schools and universities shut all across the world and has interrupted traditional teaching practice in education departments. Therefore, education provided to students with special needs and supervision delivered to student teachers in teaching practice changed dramatically. The main aim of this current study is to investigate the student teachers’ opinions in a special education department in Turkey about supervision provided to them in teaching practice amidst COVID-19. Twenty student teachers were interviewed in 2020-2021 academic year and the data obtained from semi-structured interviews were analyzed using inductive analysis. Results were discussed and future recommendations were made to enhance online supervision in special education departments.

Keywords: supervision, COVID-19, special education, student teachers, teacher practice program.