Abstract
The purpose of this study were to understand how County Bureaus of Education planned and implemented vocational training programs in special classes for students with learning disabilities and mildly intellectual disabilities, and the current status of these classes and problems confronted. Toatl of 23 County Bureaus of Education, 68 junior high schools and vocational schools, and 1 vocational training center were surveyed. Among them, twenty-five schools were selected to be visited by groups of experts in the fields of special education, vocational education, and educational administration. The major findings of this study were as follows: (1) Vocational training classes were established mainly in consideration of distribution of population, as well as regional and subjects' balance in the Counties. However, students with special needs in the regular classes were mostly excluded; (2) Many vocational training models and subjects were modeled after the special classes in the same schools, thus few choices were provided for students; (3) Schools preferred conducting special training classes alone rather than cooperate or join programs with other schools, which made it difficult, if not impossible, to share resources with other schools; (4) Almost half of the schools did not establish identification committees; students from special classes with intellectual disabilities were admitted to the class in no consideration of their interests and abilities; (5) Identification of mild MR and LD were difficult because appropriate measurement tools and standard were in shortage; (6) Curriculum and materials were complied by teachers. Due to more word presentation in these materials, however, students' interesting and learning effectiveness were decreased; (7) Experts from community were invited into classes to be teachers; fieldwork into factory was few; and (8) Since special classes and practical skill training classes in vocational school were not many, the transitional possibility was limited.