THE EFFECT OF MICROTEACHING PRACTICES ON PRESERVICE TEACHERS' SENTIMENTS, ATTITUDES AND CONCERNS

The literature shows that teachers and preservice teachers have negative sentiments and attitudes towards inclusive education. Considering this problem, this research aims to inquire the effect of the microteaching practices for science teachers' sentiments, attitudes and concerns about inclusive education. The research is designed by quantitative research method and by using the pretest and posttest control group pattern. The sample of the study consisted of 43 preservice teachers who were attending the 4th grade of the science teaching department of a state university in Istanbul in the fall semester of the 2017-2018 academic year. 18 preservice teachers were in the experimental group while 25 preservice teachers were in the control group. The Sentiments, Attitudes and Concerns Scale about Inclusion Education was used as a data collection tool. The scale consists of three factors and 15 items. SPSS 18.0 package program was used for data analysis. Preservice teachers in the experimental and control groups did not show significant differences for any factors of the scale before the application. The groups were equivalent. It was found that microteaching practices had positive effects on the attitudes of science teacher candidates towards inclusion. Another result was that the microteaching practices increased the anxiety levels of science teacher candidates towards inclusion. In line with the results of the research these can be suggested that preservice teachers should receive training for inclusion education, they should recognize the individual differences of the students who receive inclusion education, and the inclusion education should be associated with teacher education courses in science education for successful applications.