European Journal of Special Education Research ISSN: 2501 - 2428 ISSN-L: 2501 - 2428 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu Volume 2 │ Issue 6 │ 2017 doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1065936 SITUATIONS IN WHICH MAINSTREAMING STUDENTS BENEFIT FROM SOCIAL CLUBS Hakan Saraç1i, Necati Hırça2 1 Dumlupınar University, Institute of Educational Sciences, Kütahya, Turkey 2 Department of Science Education, ”artın University, ”artin, Turkey Abstract: Mainstream education for individuals with special needs is accepted to be applied in the curriculum by National Ministry of Education in 2010 and made systematic in 2009. The aim of this study is to determine the situations in which students benefit from social club activities in the scope of social activities. The research is qualitative and casestudy enabling a deep investigation about a restricted subject. The study group of the research consists of 200 individuals in mainstream education with special needs who are educated in the classes of 180 teachers from different branches at elementary and secondary schools of National Ministry Education in the city of ”artın and its districts in the fall term of 2015-2016 education year. 110 ones of the study group are male and 90 ones are females. Semi-structured interview with the questions Which club is an inclusive student in?” and What is the role of inclusive student in the club?” are fulfilled with teachers having inclusive students in the research. While the obtained data is analyzed, content-analysis method from descriptive methods is used. As a result of the study, 132 of 200 inclusive students become member of various clubs and 42 ones from these are active in their school clubs and in the schools of other 68 inclusive students, clubs studies are not be able to carried out actively or it is only noted down which club an inclusive student is in. Keywords: mainstream education, social clubs, elementary school, secondary school Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 204 Hakan Saraç, Necati Hırça SITUATIONS IN WHICH MAINSTREAMING STUDENTS BENEFIT FROM SOCIAL CLUBS 1. Introduction When the concepts such as human rights, equal opportunity in education, modern education, democratic concepts, and community are considered, how much importance the education of individuals with special needs carries stands out more. Each child owns unique physical structure and functionality, learning features and speed in various fields, emotional features. Children can benefit from these general education services when these differences are within the certain limits. However, when children have the larger sizes of differences, general education services are inadequate and special education services are required (Ozdemir, 2010). The view that individuals with special needs can have the same education as those individuals indicating normal development, they can be provided to get educated in the same environment with their peers and also this can be achieved through Mainstream Education is currently seen as accepted in education policies and implementations. In the Regulation of Ministry of Special Education Services, Mainstream education is expressed as the least restricted education environment, and through mainstreams education individuals with special needs are provided support education services in order to make them gain social, self-care and communicative behaviors for their integration with society and academic and professional knowledge and skills and it is the most suitable education environment with their peers who do not have inabilities as much as possible (MEB, 2013). Mainstream education, creates the key pillars of the training system for individuals with special needs and it is the environment where inabilities have the minimum effects and individuals with special need benefit from the education at the most and differences are tolerated (Baldiris, Zervas, Fabregat and Sampson, 2016). Mainstream education represents the whole integration of individuals with inabilities with general education classes and schools and the belief and philosophy in which their education is based on their talents not their inabilities. Mainstream education include educational mainstreaming based on students’ basic needs not pre-programmed standards and social integration in which their relationship with their peers and adults is supported and physical mainstreaming in which students are placed in the same class as their peers who do not have any disabilities (Eripek, 2012). When mainstream education is applied appropriately, individual differences of each student appears and an education environment in which all students including students of mainstream education are valuable is prepared. In this kind of environments, students are equal. All students can consider that they have a right to attend classroom activities and lessons and make a contribution into the classroom European Journal of Special Education Research - Volume 2 │ Issue 6 │ 2017 205 Hakan Saraç, Necati Hırça SITUATIONS IN WHICH MAINSTREAMING STUDENTS BENEFIT FROM SOCIAL CLUBS atmosphere and in this kind of classroom; everybody respects each of the contributions. If individuals with special needs are able to see themselves as a member of the class where they are raised, and if this case is accepted by the teachers and regarded as social club by their classmates, so these students can be said to be integrated (Batu, 2008). Children with the mainstream education facilitating more constructive relationships with their peers gain many positive behaviors which make their integration into the social life easier by affecting themselves in different ways and catching an opportunity to improve themselves in academic and social fields (Ahmetoglu, 2015). Whereas mainstream education contributes individuals with special needs, it also helps individuals indicating normal development gain positive attitude and behaviors towards living with disabled individuals. This gain considerably affects social integration and mainstream Kılıc, . Mainstream education is divided into two groups as academic and social and defined that general education classes are formed so as to meet students’ educational requirements in academic studies and inclusive student is provided to comply with their peers in the classroom in social activities (Gurgur, 2005). In schools, the social skills of students are fulfilled through social activities. With the help of social activities basing the principle learning by experience , students are provided natural environment and opportunity for studying and with this way their academic and practical education are contributed (Canbay, 2007). National Education Ministry published Social Activities Instruction in 2005; and with this regulation, social activities previously carried out in the centre of educational branches have given way to implementation student clubs . In the related regulation, students club is defined as activities carried out with groups so as to provide students to take part in scientific, social, cultural, artistic and sportive fields and intramural and extra scholastic activities. The general aims of student clubs are to improve students’ self-confidence, their sense of responsibility and guide them for new interest fields and skills. Moreover, student clubs are aimed to fulfill community service through social activities. Students clubs determined in the scope of National Education Ministry Elementary and Secondary Schools Social Activities Regulation are presented in the Table 1. 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