Eğitim Fakülteleri Öğretim Elemanlarının Öğretmen Adaylarının Mesleki Gelişim Gereksinimlerine Yönelik Görüşleri

Abstract

Contemporary education includes teachers’ keeping up with the latest trends in educational theory. The increase in mainstreaming/inclusion in schools has resulted in varying student profiles, in turn demanding a variety of roles on behalf of teachers. Therefore, teachers today have to update their competencies throughout the course of their profession. Despite the fact that professional development research in Turkey has been conducted with in-service teachers, the views of academic personnel may be considered equally important. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the views of academic personnel working in faculties of education on the professional development needs of pre-service teachers. 130 participants working in one of the departments of preschool, primary or special education in faculties of education across 13 universities in Turkey were contacted personally or via e-mail and 17 personnel completed and returned the survey. According to the results of content analysis, academic personnel believed that pre-service teachers graduate with a sound theoretical background but that they are usually faced with difficulties applying this knowledge and skills due to insufficient practicum opportunities and negative teacher role models. Other findings included lack of information on mainstreaming, the developmental model in teaching and professional development models during pre-service training. These findings yield important implications for a focus on professional development models in pre-service and in-service training programs.