Curriculum Evaluation of Educable Mentally Retarded High School Students from its Job Empowerment Perspective

Subject Areas :

Received: 2010-11-30 Accepted : 2011-01-02 Published : 2011-03-20

Keywords: Educable mentally retarded students, high school level, general skills, self-sufficiency, vocational empowerments, career,

Abstract :

The aim of the study was to evaluate the curriculum of the educable mentally retarded high school students from its job empowerment perspective. To this end, the population of the study included all administrative experts in exceptional education department, the professional curriculum developers, and mentally retarded high school teachers and employers in the Qazvin province. Those who actually took part in the study were totally 223 using Cochran formula. The study tool was a researcher-made questionnaire whose reliability index was calculated to be 0.95 using Cronbach Alpha and whose validity was confirmed by experience teachers.  The findings showed that, contrary to administrative experts and curriculum expertise, teachers and employers maintain that vocational curriculum of high schools has contributed less than expected to general experiences and skills, and proves inappropriateness for high school students’ career interests and preferences and cannot lead to graduates’ self-sufficiency which may be the result of poor efficiency of the methods.