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Research Article Open Access

School administrators' metaphorical perceptions of special education and children with special needs

Dilay Akgün-Giray Dilay Akgün-Giray Corresponding Author Süleyman Demirel University, Faculty Of Education, Special Education Department, Isparta, Türkiye ORCID 0000-0002-1597-9229 View Profile , Özgür Uygur Özgür Uygur Isparta Provincial Directorate Of National Education, Isparta, Türkiye ORCID 0009-0007-4994-5821 View Profile

Abstract

Children with special needs are included in the educational system more day by day. In this case, it is not only the task of the teacher to offer the right education environment to the student with special needs, but school administrators also have a very important role in this process. At this point, the approach and attitudes of school administrators to the concept of special education and individuals with special needs will affect school management practices. For this reason, we aimed to determine the metaphoric perceptions of school administrators about special education and children with special needs. The research was designed with qualitative research methodology and 108 school administrators were included in the research. Research findings emphasized that some of the school administrators are approaching children with special needs with their strong aspects, while some emphasized the sensitivity and passive aspects of individuals with special needs and special education. In this direction, the most common metaphors were “flower, sun, baby…”. These metaphors are similar to the findings of other metaphor research aimed at determining approaches to individuals with special needs.
Keywords: School administrator metaphor special education child with special needs

References

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