An Investigation of Prospective Teachers' Attitudes toward Educational Reforms in Turkey\


Duman G., Kural Baykan A., Koroglu G. N., Yilmaz S., ERDOĞAN M.

KURAM VE UYGULAMADA EGITIM BILIMLERI, cilt.14, sa.2, ss.622-628, 2014 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 14 Sayı: 2
  • Basım Tarihi: 2014
  • Doi Numarası: 10.12738/estp.2014.2.1708
  • Dergi Adı: KURAM VE UYGULAMADA EGITIM BILIMLERI
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.622-628
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Educational Reforms, Prospective Teachers, Teacher Education, Turkish Education System, Information Resources, CURRICULUM REFORM
  • Akdeniz Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

The main purpose of the present study is twofold: (a) to investigate the awareness and attitudes of prospective teachers from different departments and class levels regarding current educational reforms in Turkey and the reasons why they do or do not adhere to these reform activities, and (b) to gain thorough knowledge about information resources that they use and the problems that they encounter while learning about and sharing current educational reforms. The study was conducted with 23 prospective teachers drawn from the Education Faculty of Akdeniz University, and it used a two-stage sampling method. A semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers was employed as the data collection instrument. The interview form included four demographic and 12 open-ended questions. The tape-recorded interviews were transcribed and verbatim transcriptions were analyzed via quantitative data analysis. The results indicated that freshman and sophomore prospective teachers adhered to the education reform developments less frequently than their juniors and seniors. Most of the prospective teachers who rarely followed educational reforms indicated that they did not have enough time to do so due to their heavy schedule, but they concentrated on educational reforms in their own field of study since they had concerns for the future. Prospective teachers often had insufficient and false information about educational reforms; they indicated interest in obtaining more reliable information through conferences featuring presentations by experts. Further studies conducted with prospective teachers enrolled in additional departments or pedagogical formation courses would provide a more complete understanding of attitudes toward educational reforms.