Teacher Candidates Achievements from The ADHD Vocational Elective Course

Abstract

ADHD- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood. The number of children with ADHD increases every year. Most of the teachers working in schools and kindergartens are not educated enough to use appropriate methods while working with these students. That is the reason why some Universities included the ADHD as vocational elective course in their programs. The aim of this research is to ensure and increase the knowledge and information’s of teacher’s candidates about ADHD before their work with children. In this research we decided to analyze the effects of the ADHD as vocational elective course for the students from Canakkale 18 Mart University in Turkey. Questionnaire before and after taking the course was applied on students who attended it, in a period of three months. The group consisted 20 females, from two different departments at the Faculty of Education: Pre-school Teachers and Primary School Teachers. The implemented pre and post questionnaire contained four questions. The data were analyzed using the content analysis method and the questions were analyzed with the MAXQDA Analytics Pro 2020 program. Codes and sub-codes were created with purpose to analyze and interpret the answers given to each question through content analysis. In the research, it was seen that the conceptual learning about ADHD was increased and the teacher candidates learned what should be done about children with ADHD. Within the framework of the research results, it is recommended to make observations during the diagnosis process of the ADHD student, and to conduct practical studies for functional measures for ADHD in the classroom.