Teacher Education Research in Turkey: Trends, Issues and Priority Areas


Yıldırım A.

EGITIM VE BILIM-EDUCATION AND SCIENCE, cilt.38, sa.169, ss.175-191, 2013 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 38 Sayı: 169
  • Basım Tarihi: 2013
  • Dergi Adı: EGITIM VE BILIM-EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.175-191
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Teacher education, teacher education research, research trends, research priorities, research review, FUTURE
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Teacher education research in Turkey can be categorized under five headings: attitudes and perceptions of teacher candidates toward teaching; competency perceptions of teacher candidates; school experience; assessment of teacher education programs; and the impact of teacher education research on teacher candidates' knowledge, skills and attitudes. Research on attitudes and perceptions of teaching is carried out mostly through surveys, whereas quantitative, qualitative and mixed designs are used in studying teacher education programs and school experience. The relations between teacher education process and the knowledge, skills and attitudes of teacher candidates are explored through experimental, correlational and qualitative designs. Most of these research studies focus on descriptive aspects of teacher education rather than exploring relations among teacher education and teacher performance in schools. There are several reasons for narrow scope of teacher education research: First, there is no agreement on the terms used in the field of teacher education. Second, teacher education programs are determined by the Higher Education Council. Third, the research is mostly geared toward the students and instructors at the faculties of education rather than teachers in schools. Fourth, the teaching load of the instructors at faculties of education is heavy, thereby not leaving much time for research. Finally, there is not much meta-analysis on teacher education research to reflect what has been learned and to give new directions to the researchers.