Pedagojik Formasyon Programı Öğrencilerinin Öğretmenlik Uygulaması İle İlgili Görüşleri

Introduction Today, teacher trainingmodels are reformed in line with the rapid growth of science and technology. Some alternative teacher training programs were practiced throughout the years in order to overcome the expanding demand of qualified teachers in the education system. For instance, a “teacher certificate program”, similar to those of other countries, was put into practice for teacher training with the aim of employing graduates who studied science and humanities at universities along with graduates who studied education. The teacher certification program, which has been remodeled since 2007, in Turkey, takes its place among the teacher education policies which have been in place in other countries for many years, under the name of “teacher certificate programs”. However, though the teacher certificate programs in Turkey last for 2 semesters (roughly 30 weeks) in total, the time spared for “teaching practice” is only 10 weeks during the last semester of the program and is generally not longer than 6 hours per week. What is more, teaching practice is usually based on observing other cooperating teachers at work. The teaching practice should be an experimental process in a real classroom environment in which teacher candidates practice their theoretical knowledge acquired during their undergraduate education; receive feedback from their cooperating teachers, supervisors, and peers about the process; and improve themselves as needed according to their experience and the feedback they receive. The primary aim of this process is to create an environment where teacher candidates can display their theoretical acquirements and provide them with opportunities to practice in a real classroom environment. For this reason, teaching practice is considered a bridge between theory and practice in the process of preparation for teaching profession. Many resources argue that the positive or negative experiences of teacher candidates during the teaching practice process affect both their education and their professional lives. In this sense, courses for teaching practice taken before starting to teach professionally take a significant place in the pre-service teacher education process. The experience acquired during teaching practice also enables teacher candidates to acknowledge the teaching skills they have, improve them, and internalize roles and behaviors they display in teaching practices. Studies in the field, as well as the feedback received from teacher candidates, supports the idea that teaching practice is the most important part of teacher education programs. The present study intends to examine the views of the teacher candidates in the teacher certificate program on “Teaching Practice Course”. In Turkey, teacher certificate programs are practiced as a second alternative to training and are in place in several different institutions. There are quite extensive studies on teaching practice courses and their functions in the process of teacher training in Turkish education and other contexts. However, the importance of the present study is that the opinions of teacher certificate program students have not been sufficiently considered in other studies on teaching practice courses in the teacher training process of Turkey.Despite the similar issues presented in literature with its various aspects, studies reflecting the effectiveness of teacher certificate programs or the views of teacher candidates receiving education in these programs are quite rare in Turkey. The available studies in literature, although making valuable contributions, aim to evaluate the entirety of such certification programs in the opinions of teacher candidates in general. The scarcity of studies concerning teacher certificate programs, especially those specifically concerning teaching practice courses once again proves the significance of the present study. Thus, it is hoped that the present study, which focuses on the views of teacher candidates enrolled in teacher certificate programson teaching practice courses of teacher candidates will contribute to filling a significant gap in the field. Method In accordance with the above mentioned aim, this study addresses the following research questions: “What are the views of teacher candidates receiving education in teaching certification program on teaching practice course?” and “To what extent does the teaching practice course contribute to the professional development of teacher candidates?” 40 teacher candidates participated in this study. The participants were enrolled in the teacher certificate program at the Faculty of Education at Akdeniz University in the 2010-2011 academic year. 7 of the participants graduated from Turkish Language and Literature departments of universities outside Turkey which are accredited by the Council of Higher Education and 33 were from Turkish Language and Literature departments of various universities around Turkey. This qualitative study used a descriptive survey model of data collection. Participants responded to a survey developed by the researchers and findings were presented descriptively. Teacher candidate responses were examined using content analysis techniques, classified thematically, and later, interpreted in detail in the light of the defined research questions. When necessary, the views of teacher candidates were presented as quotations in the interpretation of the findings. Findings and Discussion Prior to taking the teaching practice course, the vast majority of participants believed that the course was unnecessary (87%) and would make no contributions to them in a professional way (68%). However, at the end of the course, participants were asked if their opinions had changed. All of them (100%) had changed their ideas about the course, including those participants who had originally thought the course would be beneficial. Their opinions of the course’s necessity and importance were strengthened. In terms of professional development, all of the participants avowed that the teaching practice course provided various positive contributions to their teaching profession. Most notably, participants reported that the teaching practice course helped them in:“gaining experience”, “making lesson plans”, “classroom management and control”, “communicating with students”, “using time effectively”, “problem solving”, “learning how to convey knowledge and experience to the classroom, “observing a model teacher, “seeing deficiencies”, “increasing teaching knowledge and experience”, “learning how to treat to students”, “understanding the importance of being prepared for the lesson”, and “being able to use teaching techniques and methods”. When asked about the positive and negative aspects of the teaching practice course, almost all the teacher candidates (98%) made several positive comments about this course, such as "being preliminary preparation for teaching”, providing learning by practice and experience”, “gaining professional experience”, “giving the opportunity to get to know students”, “gaining professional confidence”, “giving the chance to see how administrative affairs are executed in schools”, “enabling them to feel more competent”, “providing real classroom environment”, and “improving lecturing skills". However, a low number of participants (2%) stated that, alongside preparing lesson plans and making materials, the teaching practice course burdened them with the complete formality of preparing files for their supervisors at the university, and therefore, it had no positive contribution. When participants were asked whose feedback they found the most useful throughout the teaching practice, 40% of the participants stated that the feedback of cooperating teachers from practice schools was of maximal benefit, 30% remarked that it was the supervisor’s feedback they benefited most from, 20% claimed it was their peers who shared the same environment during practice phase, and 10% stated that it was through the reflection reports they had completed for themselves at the end of each lesson. When participants were asked about their satisfaction with the course and whether their expectations were generally filled, nearly all of the teacher candidates (98.5%) were highly satisfied with the course and their expectations were completely fulfilled during the teaching practice course,. However, a small number of participants (1.5%) reported that their expectations were not fulfilled and they were unsatisfied with the course. Conclusion and recommendations In the light of the findings of the study, it is recommended that the stakeholders and other educational policy makers should reform standing teacher certificate programs to include more opportunities for candidate teachers to gain experience through increased practice hours along with the theoretical courses. Furthermore, because of the scarcity of research in the Turkish context of teacher certificate programs, researchers need to conduct additional studies comparing the views of teacher candidates from teacher education programs with those in teacher certification programs. Researchers should also examine the views of teacher candidates in these programs from different aspects such as contributions of the outcomes of the other courses in the teaching certificate programs to the teaching practice process.