Current Status of Vocational Education Programs for Hearing Impaired Students in Kosovo

Abstract

Programs for the hearing impaired should provide meaningful, purposeful, and functional educational environments. Vocational courses should be carried out in collaboration with language courses and product-focused studies. When studies about vocational education in Kosovo are examined, it is evident that there is a need for improvement and reinforcement for the hearing impaired. This paper is the first step in an action research project, which aims to examine the current situation of vocational programs and educational environments of the hearing impaired in Kosovo. An emerging method, maximum variation sampling, was used to define stakeholders. The data were collected via qualitative and quantitative techniques. Descriptive statistics and descriptive and inductive analyses were utilized. Based on the findings, the following themes were determined: physical environment, qualities of teachers, training education, qualities of students, family-school cooperation, graduates, and employment. Positive and negative aspects are discussed and recommendations are made in relation to these themes.