Abstract

One of the most important factors in the success of educating children with special needs is the quality of the special education teacher. While teachers are responsible for a plethora of duties, it is important that teacher preparation programs provide adequate training to ensure teachers are well prepared for the teaching profession. However, previous research has found that teachers are not being adequately trained and consequently, they are experiencing problems within the classroom. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate whether the gender of the preservice teacher, type of disability being taught, type of training institution, the university that the preservice teacher attends, and the number of hours credited for practicum training effects on the presence of five problem domains: training institution, problems related to university program, trainers/instructors, practicum plan and its requirements, and preservice teachers; and whether there was overall differences on the presence of the problems in general.

A survey was developed and distributed to preservice teachers completing their practicum in four public universities in Jordan. A total of 148 responded to the survey. Different statistical procedures were used to investigate the study’s questions. Findings suggest the existence of differences between groups on types of disability being taught, types of training institution, university student currently attending, and number of hours credited for practicum training. Results were discussed and recommendations were made.

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