Investigating Views and Practices of Music Teachers’ about Inclusive Education

Abstract

This study aims to investigate music teachers’ views on the education of special needs students (inclusive) in their classes. The study was carried out within the qualitative research approach and designed as a case study. Views of five middle and one high school music teachers who have special needs students in their classes were taken for investigation. The purposeful sampling method was used for creating the study group. Qualitative data was collected through the use of a semi-structured interview technique which was designed by the researchers. During the interviews, teachers were asked open-ended questions such as how they integrate special needs students into music classes, what they think about the environment of schools for special education needs students, the sufficiency of education taken during faculty years about special education. Obtained data was analysed through content analysis. In the analysis themes and categories were created and findings were presented in tables. In order to support findings, direct quotations from teacher conversations were also included. According to the results of the study, it is determined that music teachers are inadequate in terms of having related knowledge and skills for educating special needs students in their classrooms. In addition, it was found that music teachers do not prepare individual education programs for special needs students but carry on with the present curriculum and they mentioned that the training on special needs given during faculty years was inadequate. At the end of the study, some recommendations were made for improving the quality and productivity of music lessons of music teachers for special education needs students.