How effective are initial primary teacher education curricula in Turkey? Student teachers, faculty, and teachers let us know
Abstract
This study focuses on perceptions of student teachers, faculty, and teachers newly graduated from the initial teacher education programmes, on how effective teacher education has been. The findings might lead to some recommendations for further improvement of teacher education in Turkey. Improvements could include wider perspectives of international studies in teacher education. For this purpose, the following questions are addressed: (1) How well have the students been prepared as primary teachers?, (2) Which components of the programme have helped to prepare students better?, (3) Is there any significant differences among the perceptions of student teachers, faculty members, and teachers graduated of these curricula?, (4) What recommendations can be put forward to improve initial primary teacher education? and (5) How might these findings contribute to wider international perspectives on teacher education? In this study, quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through the questionnaire and interviews. Data were collected from 145 student teachers, 81 faculty members in four colleges of education, and 89 newly graduated teachers from 38 colleges of education. Quantitative data were analysed using frequencies, means, and Kruskal-Wallis and Hollander Wolfe tests. Qualitative data were transcribed and coded by using an inductive coding approach and meaningful themes were generated. Finally, findings were organised according to research questions.
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References
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