Investigating the Attitudes of Teacher Candidates Toward Children With Disabilities Based on Their Participation in Sporting Activities
Chapter from the book:
Alaeddinoğlu,
V.
&
Turan,
M.
&
Akkuş,
E.
&
Yılmaz,
H.
H.
(eds.)
2025.
Academic Research in Physical Education and Sports Teaching.
Synopsis
The aim of this study is to investigate the attitudes of prospective teachers towards children with disabilities in relation to their participation in sports activities and other variables. The study was conducted on a total of 325 students (228 women and 97 men) studying at the Kazım Karabekir Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Sports Sciences at Atatürk University in Erzurum during the 2025-2026 academic year. A correlational survey model, a quantitative research method, was used in the study. To determine the attitude levels of prospective teachers towards children with disabilities, the "Attitude Scale Towards Children with Disabilities," adapted into Turkish and validated by Gümüş and Öncel (2020), was used. Independent Samples T-test and One-Way ANOVA tests were applied to determine the differences between two and more variables in the analysis of the data. Pearson correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between the age and duration of participation in sports activities and the attitude levels towards children with disabilities. A significance level of p<0.050 was considered in the evaluation of the data. The study found differences among prospective teachers based on family structure, having a disabled relative, and participation in sports activities, as well as a relationship between age and attitudes towards disabled children. However, no relationship was found between gender, having siblings, type of sports activity, and duration of sports activity, and attitudes towards disabled children. It is believed that providing opportunities for prospective teachers to learn about or interact with disabled individuals during their education will yield positive results. It is also suggested that attitudes towards disabled children or other disabled individuals be examined from the perspective of different variables beyond the scope of this study.
