Inclusive education in primary education teacher training in Türkiye: An absent curriculum?

This study investigates the extent to which inclusive practices are embedded in the Initial Teacher Training (ITT) programmes of primary education faculties in Türkiye. It seeks to examine the multiple factors that come together to influence the approaches used by teacher educators in different departments. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 teacher educators and 11 student teachers from three departments of primary education, selected through purposive sampling to ensure diversity in institutional contexts and snowball sampling to reach more participants. The results have indicated that there is a serious neglect of inclusive education in these ITT programmes, where many trainees reported minimal opportunities for practical experience with students with special educational needs and disabilities during their placements. This study provides recommendations on how the ITT curriculum can be redesigned to develop a more inclusive educational framework.