Abstract:

The purpose of this research is to illustrate the attitudes of special education teachers candidates towards sports activities of individuals with mental disability and mental disability. The research was conducted by 184 students (128 girls, 56 men) who studied in the private education department of Ankara, Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli, Adnan Menderes, Hacettepe and Hasan Kalyoncu universities. Relational scan method was used in the research. In the study, the data collection process used "Personal Information Form", "The Attitude Measurement to Sports Events of Persons with Mental Disabilities" and "The Attitude Measurement to Sports". The research data was tested on the basis of 0.05 meaning level. In the analysis of the data, the subproblem-related subjects were grouped, with visual statistics such as frequency (f), percentage (%), weight average (X) and standard deviation (SS) with independent t-test and ANOVA techniques used. Cohen'd was used to calculate the impact size of the meaningful difference. The research results show that special education teachers candidates have a high level of mental disability in individuals’ athletic activities and attitudes towards sport. The attitudes of special training teachers to the sport of the candidates are not different according to gender, class level and the conditions of participation in sports events. The attitudes of special education teachers candidates to the sports activities of individuals with mental disability are not different by gender, class level, the condition of being a person with special education need in the family or among their friends and the conditions of participation in the sports activities. There is a significant difference in the size of negative attitude towards only sports events according to the gender variable.

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