The research conducted by Dr. Sevgi KIRBOYUN TİPİ, faculty member of Istanbul Medeniyet University Faculty of Educational Sciences Department of Special Education, and Samet ATA, Çiğdem AYTEKİN and İsmihan ARTAN, titled “Intercultural examination of deprivation and prosociality in special education teachers: a comparison of USA and Turkey” was published in Çukurova University Faculty of Education Journal on April 27, 2022.
Prosocial behaviors are positive social behaviors that benefit others. Deprivation is an observable and provable measure of absence in one’s social living standards depending on the society or country to which they belong. This study, which was carried out to take a step towards equal opportunities in education with students with special needs, examined the relationships between prosocial skills and deprivation levels in teachers of visually impaired students. The environmental Deprivation Scale for Teachers was developed by the researchers with 751 teacher participants. As one of the quantitative research methods, this descriptive study was conducted using correlation and screening to examine the relationship between two or more variables and obtain clues about cause and effect. 68 Teachers of Students with Visual Impairment student in Turkey and 73 Teachers of Students with Visual Impairment student in the USA participated in our web-based scale. The participants were also asked an open-ended question about the reason(s) for choosing their profession. The answers were analyzed, and themes and sub-themes were created. As a result of the study, which can be used to reduce inequalities in inclusive education, it was found that American Teachers of Students with Visual Impairment student have higher levels of prosocial skills and lower levels of deprivation. In addition, there is a positive and significant relationship between prosocial skills and deprivation. The reasons teachers choose their profession fell under four themes and eight sub-themes for the American Teachers of Students with Visual Impairment student and six themes and nine sub-themes for the Turkish ones. Several factors, such as the differences in the education systems of the two countries and the levels of development, may impact prosocial skills and deprivation levels.