Studies on Defining and Improving Social Competence Characteristics in an Elementary School Inclusive Classroom

The purpose of the study was to define the social competence characteristics of elementary school thirdgrade students from an inclusive classroom in the city of Eskisehir and to examine related improvement studies. The participants of the study were students from a class which admitted a student with a “intellectual disability”, their class teacher, the school guidance counselor, parents and researchers. The study was designed as action research and made up of two phases such as determining the case and application. The first phase included studies on determining the case. In the second phase, various activity plans were prepared and applied depending on the social skill improvement program. The data were collected via field notes, observations, interviews, check-lists, students’ products, reflections and validity meetings. The findings obtained as a result of the analysis of the data revealed that the cooperative work of specialists and teachers in an inclusive environment had positive influence not only on the inclusive student but also on all the sharers in class. In addition, the teacher, the school guidance counselor, the students and their parents reported positive views about the program applied.