الاحتياجات التدريبية اللازمة لمعلمي التربية الخاصة في المملكة العربية السعودية من وجهة نظرهم

Abstract EN

The study aimed at identifying the nature of necessary training needs required by special education teachers working in Saudi government schools from their own standpoint.

To achieve this end, the descriptive approach, alongside a questionnaire, was used for data collection.

The study population comprised all 7016 government special education programs serving areas around all administrative regions of the Kingdom (i.e., Riyadh, Mecca, Madinah, Qaseem, Eastern region, Asir, Tabuk, Hael, Northern boarders, Jazan, Najran, al-Baha, al-Jouf).

The study population represented all special education teachers (8281) of these programs.

The number of teachers who responded to the questionnaire was 384 male and female teachers.

The study concluded that there were high training needs as viewed by the special education teachers in the fields of (assessment and diagnosis, modern trends in teaching methods, teaching technologies, behavior adjustment), and medium training needs in the fields of (preparing teaching aids, individual educational program, speech and communication, professional qualification, transitional services, early intervention, comprehensive teaching and work with family members of disabled individuals).

The study also concluded that there were no statistically significant differences between the responses given by the study sample on the nature of training needs as attributed to the variables of sex, specialty and region.

In light of these findings, the study recommends that it would be necessary to meet the training needs of special education teachers at the Saudi government schools.

This is particularly the case where the study showed high and medium training needs.

Moreover, the study recommends delivering training programs for the teachers in various options through training via traditional/distant workshops or through asynchronous and open training that is administered on electronic platforms.