THE OPINIONS OF STUDENT TEACHERS OF TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAM IN MENTAL RETARDATION ABOUT THE PRACTICUM SCHOOLS AND PRACTICUM TEACHERS

The student teachers in special education are required to be well-trained in the theoretical aspects such as assessm ent, program dev elopm ent and effectiv e teaching techniques as well as in practicum . For this reason, teaching practicum course is one of the m ost im portant courses which the student teachers tak e after com pleting the theoretical courses in the last y ear of the faculty. In this study, the senior students of A nadolu Univ ersity Departm ent of S pecial Education, Teacher Training Program in Mental R etardation were interv iewed in order to ex am ine their opinions about the practicum schools and practicum teachers. The interv iews were realized in a sem i- structured fashion and the data were analy zed descriptiv ely. 26 v olunteer participants were participated in the study and the interv iews lasted 30-80 m inutes. The results of the study rev ealed in two m ajor topics: The opinions of student teachers on (a) practicum teachers, and (b) practicum schools. Under the first topic, feedback from the practicum teachers and the attitude of the practicum teachers were the sub topics. Under the second topic, the ex periences in the practicum schools and the opinions about the school adm inistration were the sub topics. The results of the study were coherent with the literature.