SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS DEVELOPING INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PROGRAMS AND CHALLENGES IN THIS PROCESS

Individualized education programs (IEP) are special education programs which is prepared for achieving targetted goals for individuals with special needs based on their developmental characteristics, educational performances and needs and includes support educational services for them. It is really important to prepare IEP’s based on the current performance level and needs of the individuals with special needs. Accordingly, it is considered that attitudes of special education teachers towards IEP development process and challenges that they experience in this process are important in terms of the effectiveness of IEP’s within the scope of this research. Therefore, aim of the present study is to determine the attitudes of teachers working at special education centers in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and challenges that teachers experience during this process. A total number of 65 teachers working at special education centers in TRNC participated in this study. “Attitudes towards the IEP Development Process Scale” and “Challenges faced during IEP Development Process Scale” were used to collect the data of the study. Results have been discussed with the relevant findings from literature and conclusions and recommendations have been provided for further research and special education legislation and practices implemented in TRNC. Keywords: individualized education programs (IEP), IEP development process, attitudes, challenges, special education teachers