Inclusive Early
Childhood Education
For Children With
Disabilities
Project
OPENING CEREMONY
AND NATIONAL
CONFERENCE BOOKLET
This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union and Republic of Turkey. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union, the Central Finance and Contracts Unit, the Ministry of National Education, and UNICEF.
This project is co-funded by the European Union and the Republic of Turkey.
CONTENTS
EU European Union
ACEC Autistic Children Education Center
AÇEV Mother-Child Education Foundation BAP Scientific Research Project
DEC Division of Early Childhood DEC Division of Early Childhood
DÖDEM Early Intervention based on Naturalistic Teaching DÖP-YS Naturalistic Teaching Project Reflection Questions DÖS-BİL Naturalistic Teaching Project Knowledge Test EBA Educational Information Network
FATİH Enhancing Opportunities and Improving Technology Initiative GCM Guidance and Research Center
ICF International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health ICP Inclusive Classroom Profile
IDEA Individuals with Disabilities Education Act IEP Individualized Education Program
KHK Decree-Law
KPSS Public Employee Selection Exam METU Middle East Technical University MoNE Ministry of National Education NEF National Education Fund
NAEYC National Association for the Education of Young Children NGO Non-Governmental Organization
NPDCI National Professional Development Center on Inclusion
ODÖP Naturalistic Teaching Teacher Training Program in Pre-Schools OECD The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development ÖEHY Special Education Services Regulations
SERÇEV Association for Children with Cerebral Palsy
TEMA The Turkish Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion, for Reforestation and the Protection of Natural Habitats
TÜBİTAK Scientific and Technologic Research Institute of Turkey TUIK Turkish Statistical Institute
UN United Nations
UNICEF United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization US HHS & DE U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
WHO World Health Organization
ABBREVIATIONS:
ABBREVIATIONS IPROGRAM II
INTRODUCTION IV
PANELS 8
1. Priorities for Success in Inclusive Early Childhood Education in Turkey 8 Moderator: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet BULDU, UNICEF Turkey
Prof. Dr. Nimet Bülbin SUCUOĞLU, Hacettepe University Prof. Dr. İbrahim H. DİKEN, Anadolu University
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necdet KARASU, Gazi University
2. Inclusive Early Childhood Education for Children with Disabilities: Family Perspective 24 Moderator: Prof. Dr. Tuncay ERGENE, Hacettepe University
Bekir ERDOĞAN Fikret ÇETİNKAYA Mehtap ERYİTLİ Vedat AZAP Emine DÖNMEZ
3. A Showcase Example: Inclusive Early Childhood Education for Children with Disabilities
(Mamak İmirzalıoğlu Ganime Hanım Kindergarten) 42
Moderator: Tuncay MORKOÇ, Director, Early Childhood Education Department, MoNE Seçil BALKIR, School Principal
Nuray KARTAL, Vice Principal
Nergiz AKDOĞAN, Pre-school Teacher
Süleyman KOCA, Guidance and Counseling Teacher Sultan GÖKASLAN, Pre-school Teacher
4. Improving the Quality of Inclusive Education: Teacher Perspective 64
Moderator: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necdet KARASU, Gazi University Müberra OĞUZ, Department Head
Songül EKE, Pre-school Teacher Selda DOĞAN, Class Teacher
Sezen Şerife KARADAĞLI, Guidance and Counseling Teacher Tülay ALTAN, Special Education Teacher
PRESENTATIONS
1. Inclusive Education for Children with Disabilities: Policy Analysis
Prof. Dr. Tuncay ERGENE Hacettepe University 82
2. A Global Perspective on Inclusive Early Childhood Education Practices for Children with Disabilities
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mesut SAÇKES Balıkesir University 90
3. Naturalistic Teaching Process for Pre-school Teachers of Inclusion Classes
Prof. Dr. İbrahim H. DİKEN Anadolu University 98
4. Inclusive Early Childhood Education for Children with Disabilities: Teachers and Teacher Training
Prof. Dr. Nimet Bülbin SUCUOĞLU Hacettepe University 106
5. Inclusive Early Childhood Education in Turkey for Children with Disabilities: Needs, Issues, and Recommendations
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çığıl AYKUT Gazi University 116
6. Educational Diagnosis, Placement and Assessment in Inclusive Early Childhood Education for Children with Disabilities
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cevriye ERGÜL Ankara University 124
7. Inclusive Early Childhood Education in Turkey for Young Children with Disabilities: Current Situation Analysis
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necdet KARASU Gazi University 132
Presented by Ms. Özge UZUN;
10:00 - 10:05 National Anthem and a Moment of Silence 10:05 - 10:10 Through a Mother’s Eye:
Ms. Özge UZUN
Opening Speeches;
10:10 - 10:20 Ministry of National Education
Dr. Cem GENÇOĞLU, Basic Education Director General
10:20 - 10:30 UNICEF
Mr. Philippe DUAMELLE, UNICEF Representative in Turkey 10:30 - 10:40 Delegation of the European Union to Turkey
Mr. Gabriel MUNUERA VINALS, Deputy Head of EU Delegation 10:40 - 10:50 Ministry of National Education
Dr. Muammer YILDIZ, Deputy Undersecretary, Ministry of National Education 10:50 - 11:00 Group Photo
11:00 - 11:15 Coffee Break
11:15 - 12:30 Panel: Priorities for Success in Inclusive Early Childhood Education in Turkey Moderator: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet BULDU, UNICEF Turkey
Prof. Dr. Nimet Bülbin SUCUOĞLU, Hacettepe University Prof. Dr. İbrahim H. DİKEN, Anadolu University
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necdet KARASU, Gazi University 12:30 - 14:00 Lunch Break
14:00 - 17:00 National Conference
Family Panel: Inclusive Early Childhood Education for Children with Disabilities: Family Perspective
Moderator: Prof. Dr. Tuncay ERGENE, Hacettepe University Bekir ERDOĞAN
Fikret ÇETİNKAYA Mehtap ERYİTLİ Vedat AZAP Emine DÖNMEZ
HALL: Ankara Balo Salonu Coffee Break
Teacher Panel: Inclusive Early Childhood Education for Children with Disabilities: A Showcase Example (Mamak İmirzalıoğlu Ganime Hanım Kindergarten)
Moderator: Tuncay MORKOÇ, Head of Early Childhood Education Department General Directorate of Basic Education, MoNE
Seçil BALKIR, School Principal Nuray KARTAL, Vice Principal
Nergiz AKDOĞAN, Pre-school Teacher 14:00 - 15:15
15:15 - 15:45 15:45 - 17:00
NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Thursday, September 21, 2017 - Anadolu Hotels Downtown, Ankara
Opening Speeches Dr. Brenda HAIPLIK
Chief of Education, UNICEF Turkey Dr. Cem GENÇOĞLU
Basic Education Director General, MoNE HALL: Ankara Balo Salonu
Coffee Break
Teacher Panel: Improving the Quality of Inclusive Education: Teacher’s Perspective
Moderator: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necdet KARASU, Gazi University Müberra OĞUZ, Branch Manager
Songül EKE, Pre-school Teacher Selda DOĞAN, Primary School Teacher
Sezen Şerife KARADAĞLI, Guidance and Counseling Teacher Tülay ALTAN, Special Needs Education Teacher
LUNCH BREAK Concurrent Sessions Coffee Break Concurrent Sessions Coffee Break Concurrent Sessions Coffee Break Concurrent Sessions 09:30 - 10:00 10:30 - 11:00 11:00 - 12:00 12:00 - 13:45 13:45 - 14:30 14:30 - 14:45 14:45 - 15:30 15:30 - 15:45 15:45 - 16:30 16:30 - 16:45 16:45 - 17:30
NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Friday, September 22, 2017 - Anadolu Hotels Downtown, Ankara
Naturalistic Teaching Process for Pre-school Teachers of Inclusion Classes Prof. Dr. İbrahim H. DİKEN
Anadolu University HALL: Esenboğa 1
Inclusive Education for Children with Disabilities: Policy Analysis
Prof. Dr. Tuncay ERGENE Hacettepe University HALL: Esenboğa 1
Inclusive Early Childhood Education for Children with Disabilities: Teachers and Teacher Training
Prof. Dr. Nimet Bülbin SUCUOĞLU Hacettepe University
HALL: Esenboğa 2
A Global Perspective on Inclusive Early Childhood Education Practices for Children with Disabilities
Doç. Dr. Dr. Mesut SAÇKES Balıkesir University
HALL: Esenboğa 2
Inclusive Early Childhood Education in Turkey for Children with Disabilities: Needs, Issues, and Recommendations Doç. Dr. Çığıl AYKUT
Gazi University HALL: Esenboğa 1
Inclusive Early Childhood Education in Turkey for Young Children with Disabili-ties: Analysis of Current Situation Doç. Dr. Necdet KARASU
Gazi University
Inclusive Early Childhood Education in Turkey for Chil-dren with Disabilities: Support Services
Yrd. Doç. Dr. Latife ÖZAYDIN Educational Diagnosis, Placement and Assessment in Inclusive Early Childhood Education for Children with Disabilities
Doç. Dr. Cevriye ERGÜL Ankara University HALL: Esenboğa 2
OPENING CEREMONY
The “Inclusive Early Childhood Education for Children with Disabilities Project” to be carried out by Basic Education General Directorate of Ministry of National Education and UNICEF in collaboration, and to be co-funded by the European Union and the Ministry of National Education, was launched, together with a national conference organized within the same project, on September 21-22, 2017 with the participation of approximately 400 educators. This project, which will be implemented in a total of 90 pilot schools in Antalya, Bursa, Gaziantep, Izmir, Konya, and Samsun, aims at overcoming the problems that children with disabilities face. The project aims at facilitating the participation of children with disabilities in social life through high-quality inclusive education in early childhood. This project aims at reaching out to not only children with disabilities and their families but also children with typical development and their families. Thus, an awareness will be raised in the society regarding the inclusion of children with disabilities.
Turkey faces great challenges in education and social inclusion, as was recognized in the Tenth National Development Plan. Access to a high-quality inclusive education for children with disabilities in Turkey is still a problem. Lack of social awareness regarding the provision of access to education for children with disabilities across the country; insufficient number of trained, experienced and qualified professionals working with children with disabilities; lack of information of how to integrate children with disabilities in individualized and institutional education planning and implementation; and inadequate monitoring and data collection processes regarding children with disabilities are some of the factors that contribute to the challenges.
Children with disabilities, like every child, need high-quality inclusive education to develop their skills and make their dreams come true. There are many contributions children with disabilities
can make to the society. The provision of inclusive education services to them at an early age will play a key role in uncovering their potential. This project aims to contribute to the participation of children with disabilities in social life through quality inclusive education in early childhood, and in the long run, aims at facilitating the employment of children with disabilities and their access to economic and social life.
The Inclusive Early Childhood Education Project for Children with Disabilities will: • Improve the cognitive, emotional and social development of all children covered by inclusive education,
• Raise awareness about the rights of children with disabilities to inclusive education,
possibilities and the importance of school-family collaboration,
• Raise awareness among decision-makers, families and caregivers of children without disabilities regarding the rights of children with disabilities to high-quality inclusive education and secure their support for the subject matter,
• Equip teachers with the necessary information and skills so that they can
provide high-quality inclusive education for all children,
• Strengthen early childhood inclusive education practices in Turkey,
• Help teaching staff, parents/families and all other stakeholders collaborate more on behalf of all children with and without disabilities, and
• Create a change of attitude across the whole society towards the inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood education.
INTRODUCTION
The project plans to achieve the identified objectives by supporting children’s areas of development and learning, producing reports and policy documents, organizing study visits and media campaigns, conducting awareness-raising activities, organizing family seminars, and developing and delivering in-service training modules for teaching staff. The project has been launched with an opening ceremony and a national conference.
At the opening ceremony of the project, the Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of National Education, Dr. Muammer Yıldız, said, “There is a diversity of values and unique contributions each student brings to the classrooms in schools where inclusive education is practiced. In an educational setting, where the principles of inclusive education are embraced, each child feels safe and develops a sense of belonging to the school. This way, all of our students and parents will be able to determine their learning goals and start making and applying decisions that affect them. This is an important step towards the advancement of our civilization and the welfare of our society. “
Cem Gençoğlu, the Basic Education Director General, said, “With this project, we have tried to get to the place where we looked at but failed to see... A place we not only failed to see, but were not able to hear, listen, or live to feel... We were encouraged by the things we have missed despite all the senses we have. It is our all-out effort to lay a robust foundation, with a fresh start at early childhood level, to make sure tiny hearts can look to the future together and lighten up the way for those who guide them”. Director General Gençoğlu ended his speech by saying, “I hope our project will be beneficial for our country and our future.”
In his opening speech, UNICEF Representative in Turkey, Philippe Duamelle said, “This project reflects our shared commitment to improving access to education for all children in Turkey; boys and girls, with and without disabilities. To achieve this, we need to lift the veil of invisibility over children with disabilities to give them all available opportunities to succeed and thrive in school and in their communities. We should all remember that, by investing in our children’s education, we also invest in our own future.” Mr. Duamelle thanked the European Union for its financial support, and also the Turkish Government for its efforts to increase access to early childhood education for all children. The European Union Delegation to Turkey Resident Ambassador Christian Berger said the following on the occasion of the launch ceremony: “We are pleased to co-finance this project with the authorities in Turkey because the investments made in pre-school education and care of children yield great results in terms of social harmony. The dissemination of such services to the disadvantaged sections of society helps us remove the social and economic inequalities that our societies face. Education, employment, and social inclusion policies will continue to be priority areas of the financial support provided by the EU to Turkey. “ The opening ceremony was followed by a national conference which allowed families, teachers, academics and experts to share their views. At the conference, experts addressed issues such as policy analysis, situation analysis, needs, problems and suggestions, an overview of global applications, teacher training, educational diagnosis, placement and assessment, and support services related to the education of children with disabilities.
DAY 1
Thursday, September 21, 2017 Anadolu Hotels Downtown, Ankara
Session 1: Panel: Priorities for Success in Inclusive
Early Childhood Education in Turkey
Moderator: Assoc. Prof. Mehmet BULDU (M.B), UNICEF Turkey
Panelists: Prof. Dr. Nimet Bülbin SUCUOĞLU (N.B.S.) - Hacettepe University, Prof. Dr. İbrahim H. DİKEN (İ.H.D) - Anadolu University, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necdet KARASU (N.K.) - Gazi University
Day 1
Panels
Thursday, September 21, 2017
S1:
Mr. Director General, dear participants; in this part of our program, we continue with a panel entitled “Priorities for Success in Inclusive Early Childhood Education in Turkey”. I would like to invite Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet BULDU (UNICEF Turkey) to be the moderator of the panel.M.B:
Dear guests, I would like to welcome you all to our event “Inclusive Early Childhood Education for Children with Disabilities” organized as part of our project implemented through the cooperation between the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Ministry of National Education (MONE), and co-financed by the Republic of Turkey and the European Union. During this particular event, we are going to discuss, from academics’ perspective, what the priority areas of Turkey are in terms of the project. I would like to introduce three distinguished professors. Prof. Dr. Nimet Bülbin Sucuoğlu from Hacettepe University, Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Halil Diken from Anadolu University and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necdet Karasu from Gazi University. As you all know, the right to education is one of the most fundamental rights for children with disabilities, as well as the typically developing children. These rights are guaranteed by international and national documents and the existing legislation in our country. However, we still believe that there is more to be done. Therefore, we would like to hear the views of our academicsabout what should be done to ensure these children have access to education--quality education.
N.B.S:
Hello everyone, dear participants. I am very happy to be here today. We are really excited about such a project. I would like to briefly talk about my involvement in the subject matter. I am a faculty member at the Pre-school Education Division of Hacettepe University’s Department of Basic Education. I have worked in various special needs education fields such as autistic children, mothers, fathers, mothers’ education, and teacher training for 26-27 years. However, in 2000, something dawned on me: “In light of what we have read, what we really need to focus on is the system we call “integration”, nowadays called “inclusion”, which allows all the children to receive education together”. After working extensively on inclusive education in primary schools, I realized that early childhood education is a must for schools, so I have been working on inclusive education, teachers, parents, children’s developmental issues during the pre-school education period for the last 15 years. Therefore, I would like to say that I am very happy to see that this project on inclusive education has been launched with the involvement and support of MoNE and UNICEF. Thank you so much. I hope we can all talk about some of our priorities here together.İ.H.D:
Hello everyone. I would like to state for the record that I am very happy to be here today. We academics voice what we want to say in scientific publications or papers, but we do not always have the opportunity to speak directly to policymakers. I would like to thank my colleague Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet BULDU and the project team for giving us such an opportunity to speak out about what we want to say or what should be done in a scientific context. I graduated from the Department of Primary Education Teaching in 1994. I have been involved in special needs education since 1996. I received my doctoral degree on “Early Childhood Intervention’’ in the USA sponsored by the Ministry of Education and returned to Turkey in 2004. I have been living in Turkey for 13 years. I am currently a faculty member at the Special Needs Education Department of Anadolu University’s Faculty of Education, but for the last four years, I have been the director of the first and only institute in Turkey called “Research Institute for the Disabled”, currently dealing with early intervention that serves ages 0 to 78. For 13 years, I have been working hard to develop various early childhood programs and assessment tools for Turkey and conducting research studies in this area. I carried out three TUBITAK Projects in this area, two of which aimed at coping with problematic behaviors in pre-school, titled “First Step toward Success”. This month we are finishing the project that we have been working on titled “Natural Teaching Process for Pre-school Teachers”. We would like to share with you our experience and what we can do to make the current situation better. I hope it will be helpful.N.K:
First of all, welcome. I am Necdet Karasu. I am a faculty member at Gazi University, the Special Needs Education Department. I am the head of the Education of People with Mental DisabilitiesProgram. I have been working in this department for the last 10-11 years, but I have been in the field since 1996 as a teacher, and having worked and interacted with the disability groups for a long time, it is only natural that I believe in the critical importance of inclusive preschool education. Here, today, I hope we will have the chance to talk a little bit more and in greater detail.
M.B:
My dear colleagues, thank you. Within the scope of the project, our target group is 3-7 year-olds, and we will take the necessary steps to ensure that children with disabilities in pre-school education have the same opportunities as their typically developing peers. Our aim is to ensure that children have access to school, receive education with their peers, and have the same opportunities. Second, to raise awareness among the society and families about children with disabilities. Third, to improve the capacity of teaching staff, especially our teachers and school principals, to work with these children. We will discuss where we should start and what we should prioritize in terms of these goals. First, I would like to give the floor to Prof. Sucuoğlu.N.B.S:
Thank you so much. Before I begin, I would like to emphasize that we do not need to talk on and on about integration, inclusive education, etc. at all, because we all know what they are. There is only one thing we would like to emphasize when talking about inclusive education in early childhood--that all children need to be together, that they feel they belong to the society, that they develop and learn at their own pace and around their individual characteristics. I think the most important thing is that they learn from each other and together. Why learn together and from each other? We are no longer discussing whether or not we shouldprevention measures as much as possible. Within this system, we have various priorities. First, we need to have our policies, our plans. In the long run, we need to make plans and train teachers, open up institutions, develop support services and family education programs according to this plan. But, here, I think two issues are important for us. The first issue concerns what we can do for young children who have special needs or who have disabilities as referred to in the title of the panel, before they come to pre-school institutions. It is necessary to decide what we need to do and then educate them. Secondly, it is necessary to develop a good pre-school system that includes all children and meets the needs of all teachers and children. What is particularly emphasized all over the world is the need to reinforce preventive measures and improve the quality of pre-school education if we want to achieve an effective inclusive education in the pre-school period.
İ.H.D:
When we review the international literature, we see that the concept of inclusive education as we use today is actually an evolution of the concepts of “integration, mainstreaming, inclusion”. The process we call “inclusive education”, sometimes called integration, mainstreaming or as some call blending, is essentially a philosophical point of view, an approach. What does that mean, then? In fact, introduce inclusive education, or integrate specialneeds children with their peers. There are countries that already act on the philosophy of “for all children” which plan and successfully implement inclusive education very well, and what we need to do now is to answer the question “How do we do it?” rather than the question of whether we should do it or not. So, what lies beneath the question of ‘how do we do it’? Let us accept these children into our institutions, let all our children develop before entering the system, get ready for the system by supporting their families, let them develop at their own pace, and belong to the society. When we look at such educational programs and approaches, the advantage in the long run is that, if we can do it all together, these children will be more active participants of the community in the future and will be much better prepared for the next level of education. If we do not do this in early childhood, and if we cannot achieve their integration and learning together, it is likely that integration and inclusive education will be much more difficult in primary school and beyond. Research shows that children in institutions, regions, and countries that achieve this in the early periods, both before pre-school and during pre-school, also become successful in later years. Therefore, what we want to do is to start a system by involving the families and the teachers from the child’s birth, starting with
Session 1: Panel:
Priorities for Success
in Inclusive Early Childhood
Education in Turkey
Moderator: Assoc. Prof. Mehmet BULDU (M.B),UNICEF Turkey Panelists:Prof. Dr. Nimet Bülbin SUCUOĞLU (N.B.S.) - Hacettepe University, Prof. Dr. İbrahim H. DİKEN (İ.H.D) - Anadolu University, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necdet KARASU (N.K.) - Gazi University
Panels
basic fact. Therefore, one must not think like “My child is three years old, and has reached the age of education. Come on, let us start the education, let us intervene.” Before intervention, there needs to be prevention regarding measures. From healthy sexual relationships to blood incompatibility, many issues need to be examined and individuals need to be prepared for a healthy parenting and parenthood. Even if these preventive efforts are made, intervention must also be systematic when the negative situation is faced. However, the issue we are dealing with is so complicated that ‘child development’ and what we call ‘having developmental delays’ cannot be remedied solely by education and medical intervention. There are many variables, such as the psychological, social and economic background of the family, that affect the development of the child. We know what is necessary for a healthy child and family life. Therefore, it is necessary for the country to have a sustainable policy that addresses all these issues. That is to say, a sustainable planning with preventive intervention from the moment of birth through early childhood covering ages 0-3, and from three years through kindergarten. In my opinion, one of the most fundamental priorities is that we should strategically plan this multi-variable preventive and intervention process, especially special education, for special needs individuals, just as our country has five-year development plans. Projects like this would undoubtedly contribute to the sustainability of policies and practices, but sustainability depends on the decisions of policymakers and practices.
N.K:
In 1992, I enrolled in the BA program at Gazi University, Faculty of Education, Department of Special Education, which was a new department at the time. We were always taking classes when we look at all the individuals in the society, wefind many things that are different from each other individually; some of us are slower, some of us are behind, and some of us are faster in some respects. Therefore, the children we target are children or students who cannot benefit from the regular education process because of their health or other circumstances. Nevertheless, they are parts of the society. I usually give this example in panels such as this. Roughly, we all know that about 12.29% of our population is labeled as individuals with disabilities with special needs. This corresponds to approximately 8.5 million people. Considering the family structure in Turkey, a family of four in general, when we multiply 8.5 million by four, we arrive at a number like 34 million. Therefore, we are faced with a situation that directly influences 34 million people. It is an obligation of the whole society to turn this negative situation, which directly concerns half of the population, into a positive one. Since the society is made up of individuals, the welfare and continuity of the society depend on these people directly affected. In this context, we are too late if we address the period between three years of age and school age, as is the range addressed in this this project, and ignore the period from birth till three years, which we call early childhood. Just as AÇEV had a public slogan “7 is too late” in the past, I now say “3 is too late”. Therefore, even before 3, it is necessary to start tackling the existing negative situation. In some very rare cases, there may be undiagnosed syndromes. In other words, there is a developmental delay, but it remains unnamed, without any diagnosis or syndrome. Thus, in such cases, Down syndrome being an example, at the time of birth and after birth, the family has to be ready to face the issue that they are going to face. This is not always the case, of course, but it is the
Day 1
competence. We decided to follow a different path in developing this program and asked the teachers to develop their own program. We would actively support them, help them reach their goals, but we would focus on the field, as only those in the field would truly understand the problems on the ground. Hence, we decided to perform a broad field analysis. We started with focus group discussions. Then, we developed a needs analysis questionnaire based on the results and we took it to the field. Our other project partner is the Ankara Provincial National Education Directorate. They, too, are helping us disseminate it and collect data. We are so grateful. Focus group discussions revealed that when it comes to incapacity or diagnosis of disability, teachers in the field could clearly raise the questions in their minds. The data obtained from most of their statements show that they skip the problem itself and talk about what is missing and do not touch upon the real problem. So much so that teachers know about those children, they like to be with them, but they fall short when it comes to doing something for them. There are two questions here. They ask, “What are we going to do?” and “How are we going to do it?” There are over four thousand pre-school teachers working in Ankara. We set an ambitious target and decided to collect data from 950 of them and we set out to the field. Currently, we have reached out about 600, and from retired teachers lecturing through special
appointment.What they always taught us, apart from the introduction to educational science, educational psychology etc., was that “school is a model for society”. Second, they used to say “there are no children who cannot learn, there are teachers who cannot teach”. Everybody focused on that. Actually, when I look back, I see nothing has changed. The school still needs to be a model for the society, and the concept of inclusive education will serve that function as much as we can improve it. One of the primary aspects we need to improve is to demonstrate an accurate social picture of the environment in which children are involved from the age of active participation in education. That is, children need to be able to learn how to solve problems while paying attention to, and respecting, the unique characteristics of other people. Yet again, we come across what our teachers told us, the importance of the teachers actively working. We are currently partaking in a European Union (EU) project collaborating with the Foundation for the Education and Protection of Children with Mental Disabilities (ZİÇEV). At the same time, we have three research assistants and a faculty member, Arif Yılmaz, from Prof. Bülbin’s department at Gazi University. We are working on developing a training program for our department and for teachers to increase their professional
age three is too late. He talked about sustainable policies and the need for strategic planning for individuals who need pre-school education. Dr. Karasu mentioned that children should be equipped with the knowledge and skills needed for a quality life that they need to participate in and lead a life just as the typically developing children. He talked about the need to improve teacher competencies and, finally, the need for a teacher support system.
N.B.S:
A dear friend of mine always says “Everything is a matter of major - minor issue.” Earlier, speakers said that we as a society often use a phrase ‘’despite the disability’’. In fact, we have to have positive attitudes towards people being together, always, everywhere. This is not just for children with special needs. My mother is old and she never uses public transportation, because we do not give her the chance. If we keep discriminating like this, as a society, then this will be reflected to schools. On the same note, parallel to the findings Dr. Karasu shared, we have obtained similar data on our TÜBİTAK project last five or six years. Teachers say, “I want these children to be together, study together in schools, but not in my class”. A large majority of the research in Turkey also shows that, underlying this is the typical case of “I don’t know what to do.” I would like to underline two groups here. Of course, the only factor in inclusive education is not the teachers, but I believe building the argument on teachers will make our job easier. I am about to finalize the second TÜBİTAK project since 2010. We visited 50 different kindergartens in Ankara. We sat in the classrooms and made observations. If we are to talk about the quality of early inclusive education in Turkey, our focus should be on teachers, but I will talk about two groups of teachers: pre-school teachers and the I have analyzed about 350 of them. When it comesto qualifications, it turns out that our teachers have no problem. This is an interesting finding because teachers express all kinds of problems when they are interviewed informally, but when it gets formal and a questionnaire is sent from the ministry, all teachers say “We have no problem”. They find themselves competent. Back in the day, teachers were subject to inspection, and then this process was linked to the concept of guidance. I think we need a much simpler solution, a support system. Teachers who are active in the field need to be significantly supported to improve inclusion and quality. We need to create this support system as soon as possible. The difference between guidance and support system is that guidance is a half follow-up and half-monitoring system. It means that the actively guiding person should be in the system for the long haul, but that does not mean that s/he should provide support for the teacher all the time. What is being offered in the support system is different. It is a semi-actively sustained process to support teachers effectively as needed, by consulting with the teachers and suggesting solutions based on their own qualifications about what they can do.
M.B:
Thank you, Dr. Karasu. Allow me to sum this up. Prof. Sucuoğlu has pointed out that we need quality pre-school education system to cover all the needs of children. She urged that quality should be improved. She stressed that measures need to be taken in a timely manner. Prof. İbrahim talked about the demographics of children with disabilities in our society. He talked about the 8.5 million individuals with disabilities and close to 34 million being directly affected. Our project starts at three years of age, but he pointed out that Moderator: Assoc. Prof. Mehmet BULDU (M.B),UNICEF Turkey Panelists:Prof. Dr. Nimet Bülbin SUCUOĞLU (N.B.S.) - Hacettepe University, Prof. Dr. İbrahim H. DİKEN (İ.H.D) - Anadolu University, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necdet KARASU (N.K.) - Gazi University
Panels
Day 1
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Session 1: Panel:
Priorities for Success
in Inclusive Early Childhood
Education in Turkey
something about autism. I said, “There are some books about autism available, you can check them out.”, and they replied, “Oh, are there?” I would like to note that if we can achieve this in initial pre-school education programs with the resources, models, courses and practical opportunities we will have made great strides towards initial teacher competencies. It is called ‘’unified programs’’ in the USA; programs in which early childhood special education and pre-school teachers are trained together. When prospective teachers see their professors talking about all children, they will also say “I am responsible for all children”. Instead, they now say “We are not responsible for them because we were not trained accordingly”. Therefore, this may be one of the things we should primarily focus on within the framework of teacher competence.
M.B:
Prof. Sucuoğlu, a point you made drew my attention. Your message was that the school mirrors the community. You said, “The discrimination in society is reflected in the school.” I think this issue is noteworthy. I would also like to get our panelists’ thoughts on this.İ.H.D:
The school mirrors the community, but in such panels and speeches, we always end up unloading all the burden on to the teachers. Because the teacher will accept the student into support system that will help them. However, ourprimary target is teachers. In pre-school education departments--I also happen to work in one of those--we actually convey the following message to teacher candidates: There are children who show typical development, and then there are children with special needs. You are not actually responsible for the children with special needs. The whole world has reached a consensus on the following conclusion: When talking about teacher qualifications, our teacher candidates in pre-school education programs should graduate with some degree of knowledge, skills and experience regarding differences. When I say differences, I do not just mean children with special needs. There are many immigrant children in our country, and many poor children. I do not know the poverty statistics very well, but a few years ago, there were more than five million children living in poverty under the age of five. Therefore, we will have accomplished the first goal if we could educate our teacher candidates in university to welcome all differences--not just work with typical children aged 4-5. Only then would we be able to see a group of teachers who will welcome all the children, who want them in their classrooms, and who explore ways to teach, to learn and to help them.” I was working with a group colleagues working in the field of special needs education, and they asked me
Integration and inclusive education process began in the early ‘80s, which was also the case in the USA. I think the point we reached since we started is very good. This awareness and adaptation to change and efforts to make changes are very important, but from now on we need to take more steps in the right direction. Teachers are important, but we need to build the structures and systems that will increase the quality of teachers, starting from the pre-service and continue into in-service. Some of you may know, there’s an institution in the USA, the DEC. It is a group of people working with disabilities, especially academics and teachers, called the “Division of Early Childhood”. At the same time, there is the NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children), which has a policy statement issued in 2009. In this document, three key roles of inclusive education are addressed. First, access... Can every child sufficiently access the services offered in the society? Are physical conditions suitable for every child? Is the student-teacher ratio in the classroom satisfactory? There are many components of this. Prerequisites of quality pre-school education are very clear. Let us assume they had access, the child came to school in a wheelchair, there was an elevator, and he came to class. Well, is the program congruent with the speed this child learns? Can the teacher adapt the pace of program to each child’s pace of development and learning on the basis of individual differences? Can s/he ensure their involvement? So, the second major component is participation. The third major component is the support system, which is a must for integration. Pre-school educators alone cannot create miracles with students who are known to be “integration students” along with many children who are not actually diagnosed but whose development differs from their typical peers. At the classroom but will tell the principal or other
administrators “I have no seat available in the classroom”, or “I don’t feel competent”. This leads to some arguments. The teacher is the key person, but when we look at it in the context of a target board, the teacher is merely the number two spot on the target board. But it is one of the components of the quality pre-school education system. In our latest project, we reached out 750 pre-school teachers in 12 provinces in Turkey. 90 percent say, “I am a mother, too,” or “I will be a mother myself”, “I am a father,” “I will be a father myself,” “I love children,” “I wish everyone could be in the same classroom, but I don’t want that.” Why? “Because my class is crowded.” “Because I do not feel competent. I have not been trained for that!” When you take a look at the pre-school teacher education programs, there is only an introductory early course for special needs education. There is also a course called classroom management which addresses the philosophies of classroom management. Teacher candidates never have the chance to learn how to cope with problematic behaviors, children with different needs, and, most importantly, how the instructional process can be differentiated. You graduate them, there are 23-24 children in the classroom and inadequate physical conditions. Then we ask them to use their magic touch and “provide quality education to all children”. So, we’re missing the point here. We have all the components, but when we do not think about these components as a whole, unfortunately, our teachers can approach the situation negatively. Studies show that educators, in particular, specialists working with special needs children, suffer from burnout more and sooner than other professional groups. This is because they cannot succeed or see the results of your efforts right away compared to typical development. Moderator: Assoc. Prof. Mehmet BULDU (M.B),
UNICEF Turkey Panelists:Prof. Dr. Nimet Bülbin SUCUOĞLU (N.B.S.) - Hacettepe University, Prof. Dr. İbrahim H. DİKEN (İ.H.D) - Anadolu University, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necdet KARASU (N.K.) - Gazi University
Panels
Day 1
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Session 1: Panel:
Priorities for Success
in Inclusive Early Childhood
Education in Turkey
has what roles, what we can do about it to change this perception in the society? Prof. Karasu?
N.K:
As a professor at Special Education Department, I have long argued about re-organizing initial training such that special education departments are abolished. No need to deny that special education is part of basic education. The most important factor here is, as my colleague described as “unified”, how the children who display different characteristics are culturally affected, rather than suffering from disadvantages such as financial problems or different ethnicity. When we look at things from a cultural perspective, every student who comes to my class is a product of this society and I always tell them: “You are a product of this society and how we look at this product is very important”. It has etymological and ethnographic roots; and anthropological, sociological and psychological analyses. But in our special education, we have come to a point where we are hiding behind the concept of labeling. We began to normalize the label the child with disabilities was assigned irrespective of the child. Here, one of the biggest steps to be taken in designing initial teacher education is to create an educational understanding that does not even require the concept of labeling. The other is how it reflected in the culture and in society. A while ago, the General Directorate of Special Education took an important step. The number of people who have come to one point, as part of the support system, guidanceand counseling teachers were assigned to each kindergarten. Currently, again, there are guidance and counseling units in schools. In my opinion, one of the simplest and fastest solutions is to support these units with special education teachers who are trained to work with special needs individuals to handle problematic behavior, as part of a “guidance and special education unit”. It is necessary to create a system in which pre-school teachers can get support for or share the problem of a special needs student in the classroom, or in some lessons or cases, can provide support in and outside the classroom when needed. Therefore, the quality of the teacher is, of course, very important, but you are the ones surrounding the teacher. If you cannot embrace that island well, and if you do not build the infrastructure system on the island, then the island cannot prosper and you cannot get an effective and productive result.
M.B:
Thank you, Prof. Diken. You mentioned that teachers must raise children by recognizing all their differences. There is a different perception in the society as you and our policymakers have pointed out earlier. Some families, especially the families of typically developing children, do not want their children to be in the same class with those in need of special education. Can we talk about what needs to be done by each stakeholder in education, whoIndividuals born in Turkey, newborn babies, and everyone actively involved in this society have to know what the concept of “dissimilarity” is, what it means to society and how the education system has to be shaped up accordingly and change over time.
M.B:
Prof. Karasu, thank you very much, you’ve touched upon an important point. Prof. Sucuoğlu, you have expanded the inclusiveness even further. There are not only special education needs, there are children with multiple vulnerabilities. I leave the floor to you once again for your views if we go back to this topic and combine it with the perception of the society.N.B.S:
First off, there is a concept throughout the world that pre-school teachers build upon during their undergraduate studies. This is the concept of developmentally appropriate practices. Based on the developmentally appropriate practices, you make arrangements that will bring out children’s learning potential without discrimination, for any type of child who comes to your class including immigrants, those with disabilities, etc. This is the main task of the pre-school teacher. So, we are talking about a system that covers all the differences. Secondly, when I saw the name of the panel, I thought, by naming the panel and the project “young children with disabilities” we have, in fact, done the labeling Prof. Karasu mentioned. As a matter of fact, the concept that both the project and the ministry should adopt needs to be “inclusive early childhood education”. Because by adding the word “disabled” to the title means you are labeling. The third point I’m going to make is very promising. We have observed something very striking in our last project. We assessed our country as immigrants or under temporaryprotection status is now around 3.5 million. They are often called Syrians. But in Aksaray, the largest group of foreigners under temporary protection is the Afghans, not the Syrians. It’s a misconception, we’re back to labeling. No matter whether the child comes from Iraq or Syria, this child might be Arab, Kurdish or Turkish; be multilingual and have different behavioral characteristics. A workshop was held recently in Hatay to develop a manual. I said something simple to the teachers who attended the workshop there. The number of children born in camps reached around 350,000. A significant number of these children are accessing education. While these children are receiving education here, they display on one hand their Syrian culture and on the other, the attitudes and behaviors that their families developed while adapting to Turkey and those that they brought from Syria. The child can neither be a camp child nor a Syrian at this moment. Furthermore, when you place this child into the mainstream education system, you are beginning to include him/her in our educational system’s framework. So, you create a new child who is neither exactly a Syrian, nor Turkish nor displaying any ethnic, religious, etc. characteristics. What this means is that we, as the whole society, especially in the educational system, have to be in a kind of movement, a formation, to make decisions and to be productive. All of these children were born in Turkey and they are a part of us. The reason we were in Hatay at the workshop was (to discuss) children under temporary protection, disadvantaged or disabled children. Teachers talk about “temporary protection, Syrians or immigrants”, but it became clear that they never talk about the concept of disability. At one point, the conversation took a political turn. It’s very simple, the teacher is a product of the society, too. Moderator: Assoc. Prof. Mehmet BULDU (M.B),
UNICEF Turkey Panelists:Prof. Dr. Nimet Bülbin SUCUOĞLU (N.B.S.) - Hacettepe University, Prof. Dr. İbrahim H. DİKEN (İ.H.D) - Anadolu University, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necdet KARASU (N.K.) - Gazi University
Panels
Day 1
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Session 1: Panel:
Priorities for Success
in Inclusive Early Childhood
Education in Turkey
actually have tremendous potential in Turkey. We have vocational high schools for girls and they have pre-school special education programs or departments. We have two-year vocational higher education programs. In a project we implemented a long time ago, we came across amazing results when we trained girls’ vocational high school graduates to be teaching assistants for teachers who taught special needs children. They turned out to be better teachers than me. Children develop and learn in the system. Think about what could happen if we could establish our system. We have everything, we have two-year tertiary education graduates, girls’ vocational high school graduates. If we support and guide them a little, they will become wonderful pre-school teaching assistants. I carried out a Sabancı Foundation project in Urfa-Mardin-Gaziantep region in 2010 and I saw something very striking. There are no children under five years of age attending pre-school institutions except in major cities in Turkey. The fact that there are no children under the age of five actually points to problems related to attitudes. In Turkey, we still do not believe all children should be together. In cities other than the large cities, pre-school and primary pre-school administrators say, “We cannot accept these children because our teachers do not know what to do with them.” Hence, one of the points we will focus on is the administrators. If children with special needs attending pre-school
institutions in several developmental areas at the beginning and at the end of the year. Teachers unequivocally say, “We are not trained, we have no experience, the materials and conditions aren’t always adequate, there are no teaching assistants.” Unfortunately, our education system does not have the concept of a teaching assistant. But at the end of the year, we saw something that motivated us all at the end of this one-year period. Special needs children who attended pre-school institutions have developed more than their typically developing peers in terms of social, emotional, academic, and problematic behavior. So, what we need to think about is that if children benefit this much from pre-school institutions despite our inadequacies, our problems, our limitations, and the limitations of our teachers, the underlying reason is developmental and learning theories. Because all development and learning theories emphasize that children learn from each other and together. The important point underlying inclusive education is the support for the child and the teacher. Therefore it would be extremely beneficial to support our teachers to work with all children, so as not to miss out these promising gains. Of course, I agree with my colleagues. We will make system changes, we will include them in five-year plans, but let me make a very tangible suggestion. Teaching Assistants
the project or you will cannot achieve the goals if you are not focused. But the ministry, and we as UNICEF, are working in collaboration with both the General Directorate of Basic Education and the other general directorates of our Ministry aimed at the other vulnerable children you mentioned. Thank you again for your sensitivity.
İ.H.D:
We discussed that parents of children with typical development did not want inclusive education. Their reasons can be explained as follows: in the 80s we did not introduce inclusive education from a political perspective or as an approach. We started by mixing. Conditions and capacity at that time may have required it. Maybe the child was diagnosed with Down syndrome at the age of three, but there was no special education institution in his area. Which school will s/he go to? The public school... What do we call it? ‘Integration’. But as I have just mentioned, the components of integration or inclusive education are like the four legs of a chair, when one or two of those components are missing it is inevitable that you fall and get hurt. Therefore, since families or the society all had negative experiences, all of us, especially parents and teachers, developed negative perceptions, opinions, and attitudes. What I want to tell you is that the teacher or the family is not the only component. There is also the programs, classrooms, number and type of desks in the classrooms, the materials to be used, the size of the class, the lighting, the acoustics. It’s exciting to see there are elements like public announcements and storybooks for the families in the project. But what worries me is that when the project is over in three years, the outcomes may remain shelved, and progress may not be sustainable and systematic. Therefore, my suggestion to your we combine all of these, we attain a lot. I believethat despite all the setbacks, we are actually a very intelligent, very smart nation. Our children are developing even if we do not do anything because they learn from each other in inclusive educational environments. First, let us give up the concept of inclusive education for children with disabilities. Early childhood education covers all children--Syrian, special needs, poor, rich, all of them--anyway. Second, even though it is the 12th component, teachers cannot be our only focal point. Third, let us not be contented with teachers, let us include the administrators as well in the system and keep moving. Two years ago, a pre-school principal in Eryaman or maybe Etimesgut region said, “Stop circling around our school in vain, we do not take those children.” So, maybe some of our colleagues may still be asking “How come a child who sees and a child with visual impairment be taught together?” in their minds. We can solve neither major-minor issues nor philosophical, cultural, political issues in the society as long as we cannot overcome this. Therefore, let us disseminate our concept of inclusive early childhood pre-school education with our administrators so that it covers everyone.
M.B:
Prof. Sucuoğlu, first of all, thank you for your comments and your sensitivity. Let me briefly explain our position regarding the word “disabled” in the name of the project: the Ministry of National Education and UNICEF are working within a five-year program framework. The Ministry of National Education and UNICEF have their own programs. The common objective here is inclusive education. Just as you suggested, we are not really focusing on inclusive education for children with disabilities. Maybe in the context of this project, yes, because sometimes you have to limit the framework of Moderator: Assoc. Prof. Mehmet BULDU (M.B),UNICEF Turkey Panelists:Prof. Dr. Nimet Bülbin SUCUOĞLU (N.B.S.) - Hacettepe University, Prof. Dr. İbrahim H. DİKEN (İ.H.D) - Anadolu University, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necdet KARASU (N.K.) - Gazi University
Panels
Day 1
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Session 1: Panel:
Priorities for Success
in Inclusive Early Childhood
Education in Turkey
due to various factors such as social, cultural, health, economical, psychological conditions, etc. Children with low academic skills attended these programs, but they were not able to learn to read. Because even if you have the highest quality educational equipment in the classroom, including sophisticated smart board applications, content from the Educational Information Network (EBA), components of the Boosting Opportunities and Technological Improvement Movement Project (FATIH), development depends on other factors besides education. Here, as the main component of the educational community, we are obligated to ensure that it is the highest possible quality. In this context, academics and professionals in the field need to identify the existing situation, develop and implement solutions, test their effectiveness, produce scientific data/information and use them. The key people who will accomplish this are the policymakers. Unless we can come up with a policy or system approach that will transform this three-year project into a sustainable five-year development plan, a five-year strategic plan, and put into practice the main components clearly defined in the literature, we can only provide temporary solutions like applying ointment on a wound on our body. But unfortunately, we cannot treat the conditions that actually caused the wound. In 10 years, we will hold another panel discussion and probably talk about question “What are we going to do about these
families?” is to showcase good examples and tell them success stories. We need to let parents communicate with teachers with successful integration practices so that these attitudes and opinions slowly transform into positive. But this is not enough, we also need to manipulate the factors that lead to success. Ministry of National Education is not the only source of solution in this area. However, even if you educate the child for five hours in the most qualified kindergarten, if this quality education is not sustained when s/he goes home, for example, if there is psychological and/or domestic violence at home, if the father is busy with thinking, “How do I put food on the table and feed my child? I cannot ever afford an eraser”, then you are again missing one of the four legs; the social, psychological and health dimensions of quality education, and rely solely on education. Therefore, development, the concept we call early childhood education is not a phenomenon that can be achieved through educational intervention alone. There are four basic components involved: social, psychological, economic and health. Let me give you a concrete example, in the USA, the 60’s are called the years of poverty and, especially, of coping with Hispanic immigrants. In those years, a program called “Headstart” was initiated. The program failed to accomplish its main objective
the same things. That is why I consider this step, this project very meaningful. I hope that for our social welfare, this becomes systematic, turns into a strategic plan, and its outcomes, its sustainability are monitored, and improvements are made.
M.B:
Thank you, Prof. Diken. If they wish to talk, I’d like to end the first session with Prof. Karasu and Prof. Sucuoğlu.N.K:
Based on the discussions here, one of the obstacles preventing us from stepping forward since the ‘80s is that we are not acting based on data and, furthermore, our scope is very limited in generating data sets related to social links. For this reason, we need to generate data first. Through sociological studies, we can only get figures. But this country, composed of a mosaic of different cultures, lacks a consensus on how individuals with different characteristics must be handled by different regional elements. We have to support this work with anthropological and ethnographic studies as soon as possible. Unless we understand people’s points of view, it will not be possible for us to create the grounds necessary to change it and enable our children to move with the society and it will turn into something coming from top to bottom. So, to be able to accomplish this, we need to be data-based, respond to all the features of culture and answer the question “Why are we doing it like this?”N.B.S:
I hope that the project becomes both successful and sustainable as Prof. Diken pointed out. I also have a personal request, something I have wanted for years. As a matter of fact, all our decisions must be informed by research results. Now, if we review the literature in Turkey, thereEven if you have the content
from the Educational Information
Network (EBA), components of
the Boosting Opportunities and
Technological Improvement
Movement Project (FATIH),
development depends on other
factors besides education. Here,
as the main component of the
educational community, we are
obligated to ensure that it is the
highest possible quality.
are a plethora of studies on inclusive pre-school education and early childhood special education. Most of these studies are of comparable quality to those abroad, if not better. Yet, I am still not sure if our decision-making mechanisms are informed by knowledge and research. If they are, I will take back my word, but I think all related units of the Ministry should review all the work in the field to make decisions on the situation in Turkey. I hope that results will be beneficial and sustainable. Thank you all so much for listening.
M.B:
We had the opportunity of hearing the ideas of our three esteemed colleagues. If they will, we would like to continue consulting them and using their expertise for three years. Thank you very much for coming and contributing. Thank you very much for listening, our esteemed guests.Moderator: Assoc. Prof. Mehmet BULDU (M.B), UNICEF Turkey Panelists:Prof. Dr. Nimet Bülbin SUCUOĞLU (N.B.S.) - Hacettepe University, Prof. Dr. İbrahim H. DİKEN (İ.H.D) - Anadolu University, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necdet KARASU (N.K.) - Gazi University
Panels
Day 1
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Session 1: Panel:
Priorities for Success
in Inclusive Early Childhood
Education in Turkey
with these, I think the question of what we can do to secure family support will shed light on us, as policymakers. Please consider this panel today as thinking aloud. With your permission, I would like to ask our panelists to talk about themselves in a few sentences. I would like them to introduce themselves, the nature of their children’s special needs, their experiences about their children’s special condition? Mr. Erdoğan, would it be all right to start with you?
B.E:
First of all, I would like to offer you my regards. I just want to say that sometimes it feels a bit hard for me to come up on stage. I must admit I hesitated a little when our Director Ms. Gülderen kindly asked me to be here. However, having looked at the sessions in the morning, and listened to the esteemed academics, I am glad that I have decided to come. Let me introduce myself. My name is Bekir Erdoğan. I am a department head at MoNE. I have a disabled child. We have a daughter in her thirties who has cerebral palsy and some other physical anomalies.You get married, you imagine a very different life, but a new life starts right after the birth of a child. At the moment of birth, you find yourself in a situation that you had never guessed, thought about, or which never crossed your mind. Then a new life begins. A different life from when you
Session 2: Family Panel: Comprehensive Early Childhood Education
for Children with Disabilities. Family Perspective
Moderator: Prof. Dr. Tuncay ERGENE (T.E.), Hacettepe University
Panelists: Bekir ERDOĞAN (B.E.), Fikret ÇETİNKAYA (F.Ç.), Mehtap ERYİTLİ (M.E.), Vedat AZAP (V.A.), Emine DÖNMEZ (E.D.)
Panels
T.E:
Dear participants, I wish you all a good afternoon. During the morning session, we talked about the teachers and now we would like to talk about the families. Our next panel this afternoon is titled “Inclusive Early Childhood Education for Children with Disabilities from the Family Perspective”. I would like to invite our panelists, with your permission. Mr. Bekir Erdoğan is among us. Welcome, Mr. Erdoğan.Dear participants, what are we going to do after five o’clock when our panel ends today? What is the first question that comes to our minds? Are the children back home from school? What shall we cook for dinner? How is my spouse? What was I supposed to do about that? Most of us will go home. When we get home, we will be with our family members who are the most precious to us. What kind of situations do we face when we go home? How do we live with our children who have different characteristics? For example, I would like to thank our esteemed panelists for offering and agreeing to share their experiences of living with such an individual with disabilities. Some of the things we are going to share in this panel may disclose some aspects of our private lives and violate our personal space. Nevertheless, these experiences are extremely invaluable. I believe it will be beneficial to share these experiences with other parents who are here as participants. In line
T.E:
Thank you so much. Mr. Çetinkaya, I would like you to elaborate more on this perspective. While we often encounter special situations with the children born into our family, there is an adopted child in his life after deliberations with his family. I think that this process you have been through, how you talked with your spouse and your comments will shed light on all of us.F.Ç:
I will talk about them in other rounds.T.E:
Please, thank you very much. Ms. Eryiğitli?M.E:
My name is Mehtap Eryiğitli. I am also a member of the MoNE. I have been a teacher for 24 years and I am the mother of a 22-year-old daughter with Down syndrome. We started to encounter serious problems related to the education of disabled individuals 22 years ago and we continue to do so. I am here as a participant and to share my experiences, as well.T.E:
Thank you very much, thank you. We have Mr. Azap among us. He is also the administrator of a very important institution. Mr. Vedat, please briefly introduce yourself.V.A:
Dear participants, first of all, I would like to thank all of you working on this project, on behalf of the Minister of National Education, our Director General, and UNICEF officials. When I heard about this project, I was really excited. As a matter of fact, we have been implementing this project at our school. I am the principal of a school in Ankara Çankaya Çayyolu named National Education Foundation (MEV) Gökkuşağı, which consists of four schools, and is engaged in integration and were single. You got married, you had a child…You had a child with disability. I asked our doctor, “This is our reality. How long can she live?” The answer was very interesting, “She has the chance to live like every other child, and she has the right to live.” That was the most beautiful sentence I had ever heard. I learned a valuable lesson. I said, “This child has the right to live like everyone else.” It started right then and there. I went out on the street and asked: “Where is the Ministry of National Education?” I tried to figure out where the ministry was. Life started like that.
