A Study on Teaching Competencies of Teacher Candidates Assist. Prof. Dr. Süleyman Sadi SEFEROGLU Hacettepe University Faculty of Education Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology Ankara, 06800, TURKEY sadi_at_hacettepe.edu.tr Web: International Conference on Education (ICE05) 6-9 December 2005, National University of Singapore

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore -2- Content  Introduction  Purpose of the study  Method –Study group –Data collection instrument –Data analysis  Findings  Conclusion

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore -3- Introduction  Relationships between progress and schools/education  The quality of the instruction  The qualified teachers  The role of teacher training institutions  The quality and standards

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore -4- Introduction: Situation in Turkey Restructuring teaching profession  Beginning of the Turkish Republic (Early 1920s)  Normal schools  Village Institutes movement (1940s)  2 Year Colleges (1970s)  4 Year Colleges (1980s)  Restructuring by Higher Education Council

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore -5- Introduction: The Role of MONE  Teaching Competencies Commission  Content of Teaching Competencies –Instructional competencies, –General social knowledge and skills competencies, and –Field-specific knowledge and skills competencies.

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore -6- Introduction: The Role of MONE The purpose of teaching competencies:  Determining teacher training policies  Pre-service training of teachers  Selecting and appointing teachers  Supervising and evaluating teachers  In-service training  Professional development of teachers

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore -7- Teaching Competencies: Instructional competencies 1.Knowing the Students 2.Planning Instruction 3.Material Development 4.Instruction 5.Managing the Instruction 6.Measurement and Evaluation 7.Guidance 8.Developing Basic Skills 9.Helping Students with Special Needs 10.Teaching Adults 11.After School Activities 12.Personal Development 13.School Improvement 14.Developing School-Environment Relations

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore -8- Purpose of the study  Investigating the extent to which teacher candidates believe they possess the teacher competencies specified by the Ministry of Education.

Method

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore -10- Method  This study, which investigates opinions of senior year students at Faculty of Education of Hacettepe University, in Ankara, Turkey, is a descriptive study.  It aimed to examine candidates’ opinion on the extent to which they believe they possess the teacher competencies.

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore -11- Study Group Departmentsf% Computer Education and Instructional Technology4527,6 Early Childhood Education3521,5 Elementary Education3320,2 Mathematics Education3018,4 Science Education2012,3 Total163100,0 The study group consists of students from 4 departments at Faculty of Education of Hacettepe University.

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore -12- Study Group  The distribution of the participants in terms of gender shows that 65% of them are female, and 35% are male.  Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology (27,6%) has the highest and Science Education (12,3%) has the lowest number of participants.

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore -13- Data Collection Instrument  The teaching competencies developed by MONE –“instructional competencies”, –“general social-cultural knowledge and skills”, and –“field-specific knowledge and skills”.  Instructional competencies category has 14 sub- categories with 206 competency items. Those competency items were turned into an instrument.  This instrument was a 4 point Likert type scale with a 0.98 reliability coefficient.

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore -14- Data Collection Instrument The participants in this study were asked  to evaluate their own competencies with reference to the given items in the instrument using a scale ranging from “poor” to “excellent”. –Poor –Average –Good –Excellent

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore -15- Data Analysis  For every teaching competency, in 14 competency categories, percentages and means were calculated.  t-Test and one way Anova tests were conducted to look for significant relationships between –competency scores and –different variables such as candidates’ gender and the department.  Among the 14 categories, only significant points are mentioned in each category.

Findings

Distribution of Mean Values of Competency Categories Competency Categories 1Knowing the Students3,09 2Planning Instruction3,05 3Material Development2,96 4.Instruction3,15 5.Managing the Instruction3,14 6.Measurement and Evaluation3,03 7.Guidance3,10 8.Developing Basic Skills3, Helping Students with Special Needs2,76 10.Teaching Adults2,91 11.After School Activities3,02 12.Personal Development3,20 13.School Improvement2,97 14.Developing School-Environment Relations3,19

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore -18-

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore Knowing the Students Competency CategoryMean Knowing the students (10 items)Good + Observing students’ interests and skills3,26 Recognizing students’ learning style2,97

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore Planning Instruction Competency CategoryMean Planning instruction (11 items)Good + Determining the material of the instruction3,52 Determining the content of the instruction3,44 Preparing annual plans2,75 Preparing monthly plans2,88

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore Material Development Competency CategoryMean Material development (20 items)Good Preparing homework3,59 Preparing worksheets3,39 Preparing video cassettes2,48

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore Instruction Competency CategoryMean Instruction (35 items)Good + Teaching with video2,64 Teaching through lecturing2,81

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore Managing the Instruction Competency CategoryMean Managing the instruction (21 items)Good + Motivating students3,40 Reinforcing positive behaviors3,36 First-aid to students2,80

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore Measurement and Evaluation Competency CategoryMean Measurement and evaluation (21 items)Good + Evaluating his/her own teaching3,21 Preparing matching type tests3,17 Giving feedback to students3,14 Determining the reliability and validity of the tests prepared 2,60

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore Guidance Competency CategoryMean Guidance (20 items)Good + Guiding parents about their children3,36 Listening to students, and helping them to express themselves 3,31 Guiding students with drug addiction problems 2,82

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore Developing Basic Skills Competency CategoryMean Developing basic skills (13 items)Good + Helping students to develop Mathematics skills 3,25 Helping students to develop skills which needed to be a successful member of the society 3,20 Helping students to develop esthetic skills2,93

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore Helping Students With Special Needs Competency CategoryMean Helping students with special needs (11 items)Good Helping students with special needs to develop planning their professional life skills 2,99 Using appropriate teaching techniques for students with special needs 2,55

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore Teaching Adults Competency CategoryMean Teaching adults (8 items)Good Determining personal educational needs3,00 Being ready to work with adults2,99

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore After School Activities Competency CategoryMean After school activities (10 items)Good + Participating PTA meetings3,37 Cooperation with colleagues about students3,22 Getting responsibilities in official commissions (such as purchasing) 2,74

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore Personal Development Competency CategoryMean Personal development (9 items)Good ++ Attending activities such as seminars, symposiums, conferences, etc. are very important 3,37 Sharing experiences with others is very important 3,33

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore School Improvement Competency CategoryMean School improvement (12 items)Good Effective use of school properties3,27 Helping administration on school- environment interaction 3,20 Creating financial resources2,66

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore Developing School-Environment Relations Competency CategoryMean Developing school-environment relations (5 items)Good ++ Introducing school to its environment3,41 Cooperation with professional associations3,01

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore -33- Participants Evaluation of Themselves in Terms of Different Variables t-Test and One Way Anova Tests to look for significant relationships  Significant differences based on gender and the department  Females outscored males in the –“managing the instruction” and –“personal development” categories.

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore -34- Participants Evaluation of Themselves in Terms of Different Variables  With regard to departmental differences, participants from the Early Childhood Education department seem to outscore participants from the Computer Education and Instructional Technology department in the categories of –“knowing the students” and –“planning instruction.”

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore -35- Conclusion  Although there is some variations, in general participants evaluated themselves as “good” or “excellent” for most of the competency items.  It was a positive finding that in at least half of the items, “poor” was not selected by any of the participants.  The participants’ evaluation of their competencies show significant differences based on gender and the department.

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore -36- Conclusion  The participants see themselves unqualified in some competency items such as “helping students with special needs”, and “teaching adults”.  The reason why they found themselves unqualified is probably that their departments’ academic program simply does not include courses about those competencies.  Therefore, either MONE needs to revise those competency items, or academic programs of teacher education programs need to be revised.

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore -37- Last Word  It is hoped that the findings of this study will guide various institutions, (which mainly are Faculties of Education, the Higher Education Council, and Ministry of National Education) in terms of current situation in teaching competencies of teacher candidates.  The findings of this study can be a guide for the designers of the in-service training activities in terms of the type of personal and professional improvement programs they can offer.

Dr. S. S. SEFEROGLU / International Conference on Education, 6-9 December 2005, NUS-Singapore -38- Thank You!!! Assist. Prof. Dr. Süleyman Sadi SEFEROĞLU sadi_at_hacettepe.edu.tr Web: