THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT SKILLS

Abstract

Assistive technologies are frequently used by special education teachers working with students affected by disability. The effective use of assistive technologies by teachers depends on their attitudes towards technology. Classroom management is one of the most important elements of effective teaching. One of the main purposes of classroom management is to create an orderly and safe classroom environment that will increase the motivation and responsibility of children and enable them to learn. In this study, it was aimed to examine the relationship between special education teachers’ attitudes towards assistive technologies and their classroom management skills. Relational survey model was used in the research. 170 special education teachers working in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus participated in the research. Attitude towards Assistive Technologies Scale and Classroom Management Skills Scale were used as data collection tools. Data analyzes were performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 24.0 program. It was concluded that there was a positive correlation between special education teachers’ general attitude scores towards assistive technology and behavioral, affective and cognitive components sub-dimensions and classroom management skills scores. As a result of the research, the research results were discussed within the framework of the literature and recommendations for further research and practices were included.

Keywords: Assistive technologies, attitude, classroom management skills, special education teachers.

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