Families with Special Needs Children in Turkey during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic period, distance education is attempted at all levels of education in Turkey and the world. The present study examines how the education process is shaped during the COVID-19 period for children with special needs and their families. The case study design was implemented as a qualitative research method. The study group sample was composed of 11 parents who reside in various districts of the city of Istanbul and who have children with special needs attending special education rehabilitation centers. The interviews conducted in the scope of the study showed that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic process on children with special needs had behavioral and social-emotional reflections. Behavioral problems and reflections in behavioral difficulties in children with special needs were observed as a disability in comprehension due to developmental issues, hypermobility, and pandemic period's positive influence. In terms of reflections of social-emotional problems, children with special needs experience shyness due to being ridiculed. The study concluded that children feel the need to go out of their home and feel fear/anxiety and longing for the family to move to another city. The research results showed that children could not perform activities due to boredom, screen addiction, and missing friends. Interviews suggested that the COVID-19 process created specific needs and problems for parents and social-emotional reflections. Problems experienced by the families were determined as health problems, inability to spare time for other siblings, conflict between spouses, distress due to not being able to go out, mother being the only parent responsible for child- care, financial difficulties and educational guidance. Overall results of the study suggest that necessary measures need to be taken to ensure that children with special needs receive one-to-one education.

High School Students' Experiences with Emergency Remote Teaching

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the closure of schools in Turkey and the online delivery of education through digital tools. The aim of the study is to reveal the experiences and opinions of high school students in the emergency remote teaching process. In this sense, data was collected with semi-structured interview form with 25 high school students. The data obtained within the scope of the study were analyzed by content analysis method. The results show that student experiences are shaped around four dimensions as a learning environment, affective, technological literacy and teaching-learning process. In general, it shows that students have difficulties in integrating into the new learning environment. In order not to experience similar problems in the future emergency remote teaching process and to integrate more effectively, a systematically and effectively planned distance learning system should be designed, and the necessary trainings should be provided for educators to master online pedagogy.

Psychological and Social Side Effects of the COVID-19 on Students

This article explores the COVID-19 psychological and social effects and how, as students, we can minimize the side effects of the COVID-19 on the students for overcoming them from next global crisis. The COVID-19 has also highlighted the vulnerability across students' education. Thus, we need to understand, monitor, and evaluate these affects to ensure our immediate and long-term responses account of these psychological and social changes and provide effective mechanism to address the impacts of the COVID-19 on Students. To address the research questions, quantitative data were collected from 281 students who are those study from 4th grade to 8th grade at schools in Istanbul. Mainly due to the study the quantitative data related to the demographic variables and psychological and social effects of the COVID-19 on students have been presented in percentages and frequency. In the determination of process of the study, the data were collected via a survey. The results revealed that the respondents have been positively affected psychological and social side effects of the COVID-19. Most of the respondents (%52) agreed for positive effects of the COVID-19 that caused more family engagement, (%48.4) more free time, (%48.4) reading more books, and (%48) more time to study. However, the respondents (%6.4) indicated that they have not been affected any psychological and social sides effects of the COVID-19. Most of the respondents (%69.4) agreed for negative effects of the COVID-19 that caused isolation and loneliness through a lack of friend's relationship, (%68) feeling bored, (%52.3) feeling stress and anger, (%45.2) feeling anxiety due to people who do not implement restrictions.

Determining the Cognitive Structures of Secondary School Students on COVID-19

This research aims to determine the cognitive structures of secondary school students about COVID-19. In this research, a case study, one of the qualitative research methods, was used, and demographic information and a word association test were the data sources. The study group of the research consists of 226 students who continue their education in the 6th and 7th grades of a public secondary school. The data were collected via Google Form, and the obtained data were analyzed by content analysis. The cognitive structures of secondary school students on the concept of COVID-19 are grouped under 11 categories. These categories are COVID-19 Prevention Methods, COVID-19 Reflections in Press, COVID-19 Results, COVID-19 Perceptions, Causes of COVID-19 Transmission, COVID-19 Treatment, COVID-19 Symptoms, Countries where COVID-19 are Common, Characteristics of COVID-19, COVID-19 Carriers and COVID-19 Diagnostic Ways. When these categories were examined, it was seen that the students' cognitive structures about the concept of COVID-19 focused on COVID-19 Prevention Methods, COVID-19 Reflections in Press, COVID-19 Results, and COVID-19 Perceptions. In addition, it has been determined that some students have misconceptions about the COVID-19 virus.

The Relation of Paternalistic Leadership with Glass Ceiling Syndrome

Women are exposed to barriers in their work-life that are not stated clearly. Although these invisible barriers occur in many sectors, they are common in the education sector. So, this study aimed to reveal the relation between the paternalistic leadership displayed by principals in traditional collectivist cultures and the glass ceiling syndrome experienced by female teachers. For this reason, the correlation survey model was used in the research. Female teachers living in Istanbul were selected with the appropriate sampling method due to the COVID-19 outbreak. "The Paternal Leadership Behaviors Scale of School Principals" and "Glass Ceiling Syndrome Scale for Female Teachers" were applied to 358 female teachers. Applied t-test, correlation, ANOVA, and regression analysis. As a result of statistical analysis, it saw that the benevolent, moral, authoritarian, and exploitative leadership behaviors perceived by teachers significantly predicted the perceptions of glass ceiling syndrome. Although benevolent, moral, authoritarian, exploitative paternalistic leadership behaviors mainly indicated teachers' perception of the glass ceiling, they were even low. Especially authoritarian and exploitative paternalistic leadership behaviors explained 5% of the total variance in teachers' perception of the glass ceiling syndrome.