Parents’ and Teachers’ Roles in Parent Involvement in Special Education: Who is Responsible, to What Extent?
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Abstract
Parent involvement has been reported to have many benefits for the education of children with disabilities. Many children with disabilities in Turkey receive educational support services from institutions entitled “Special Education and Rehabilitation Center” (SERC). The general purpose of this research is to develop a better understanding of parents and teachers’ opinions in regards to their roles in parent participation in SERC education programs. This qualitative study adopted a phenomenological approach and conducted face-to-face interviews as a data collection method. Content analysis method was utilized to analyze the data. Findings revealed that lack of communication is an important problem for both teachers and parents. Teachers reported lack of parent involvement and interest in children’s education. While parents stated their expectations for more social activities and desire for increased numbers of class sessions for their children, teachers emphasized the great need for active parent involvement.