Metaphoric Expressions of the Students about the Concept of Happiness

This study aims to reveal the views of students about the concept of happiness through metaphors. The study was designed in descriptive model and analysed with metaphor analysis, a qualitative research method. 188 students who were selected by snowball sampling technique and studying in secondary and high schools constituted the sample of the study. The data collected through a semi-structured interview form was analyzed by content analysis. The results show that the students defined happiness and happiness at school as “a temporary, hard to reach, an increasing and enriching feeling and a state of freedom.” However, , it was also revealed that while the metaphors produced by students about happiness have more positive characteristics; the metaphors produced for the concept of happiness at school have mostly negative characteristics. In this sense, the students described happiness at school with such characteristics as “temporary, impossible, hard to reach, changeable, virtual and defined it as a state of obligation, despair, dependence, loneliness, a form of obligatory relationship and an expression of negative experience and produced metaphors in accordance with these

The Views of Educational Constituencies about the Compulsory Religious Culture and Morality Education Course

In this qualitative study aiming to identify the views of educational constituencies (teachers and academics) about compulsory Religious Culture and Morality Education (RCME) course. The study was designed as a case study and the study group constituted 53 participants, who are graduate teachers and postgraduate students who are studying at the Graduate School of Education.  The data of the study were gathered through face to face interviews using semi-structured interview forms.  The results of the study suggest that the view of the participants regarding religion education is parallel to the general discussions and critics in the society.  In this sense, the study has demonstrated that while some of the participants support the current practice compulsary religion education; a great majority of the participants do not approve both the current practice and the content of the course and they suggested that RCME course should be taught electively in accordance with the demands of students or their parents and the content of the course should be enlarged in a way to include different religions, beliefs and denominations. Accordingly, RCME course should be revised in terms of both its content and status of delivery

The Opinions of Teachers About the Innovation Level of Their Schools

This study aims to determine the opinions of teachers about the innovation level of their schools. The sample of this research includes 471 teachers working in primary and secondary schools in Sinop, a city in Turkey. “Innovative School Scale” developed by Aslan and Kesik (2017) was used in order to collect data in this study. Percentage, frequency, mean, standard deviation, T-test and one-way ANOVA were performed to determine teachers' opinions about the innovation level of their schools according to the demographic variables. The findings show that the opinions of teachers about the innovation level of their schools are quite high with a level of “often” in the dimensions of innovative atmosphere, administrative support and the overall scale and with a level of “sometimes” in the organizational impediments. While the teachers’ opinions indicate no significant differences regarding their genders, they show significant differences regarding their subject areas, years of teaching experience and teaching level of school. According to findings, branch teachers, teachers working in secondary schools and teachers having 21 or more years of teaching experience were found to have a higher level of opinions about the innovation level of their schools. The findings and suggestions obtained by the results are expected to contribute to the discussions and literature about increasing innovation level of schools

An evaluation of educational supervision from the perspective of critical theoryEleştirel kuram perspektifinden eğitim denetimine ilişkin bir değerlendirme

This study aims to take the educational supervisors’ ideas on the process of supervision and their roles  from the critical theory perspective. In this study designed with survey method, data were collected through semi structured interview forms and evaluated with content analysis. The working group of the study is ten education supervisors working in Manisa. As a result of the study, it was found that supervisors mostly delivered positive opinions in such dimensions of supervision as democratic, individual differences, communication, human relations; they adopted an ideal supervisory practice and reflected that to the process; they considered the supervision process as an interdisciplinary field and discussed it in terms of its relationship with society and culture, economy, and politics and lastly they delivered positive opinions about the role of curriculum and technology as the tools of education and teaching.  However it was determined that although the supervisors generally adopt an inclusive attitude in terms of democratic and pluralism, they have some kind of prejudices and has reflected this to their expressions; the relationships of supervision with society, culture, economy and politics haven’t been so comprehensive and remained at a micro level and lastly they didn’t deliver critical opinions on the role of curriculum and technology, they discussed it just in terms of constructivist theory. ÖzetBu araştırma il eğitim denetmenlerinin mevcut denetim sürecine ve denetmenlik rollerine ilişkin görüşlerini eleştirel kuram perspektifinden ele almayı amaçlamaktadır. Tarama modelinde tasarımlanan bu çalışmada yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme formu aracılığıyla veriler toplanmış ve betimsel analiz kullanılarak değerlendirilmiştir. Araştırmanın çalışma grubunu Manisa ilinde görev yapmakta olan 10 il eğitim denetmeni oluşturmaktadır. Araştırma sonucunda, denetmenlerin genel olarak denetimin önemli unsurları olan demokratiklik, bireysel farklılıklar, iletişim, insan ilişkileri boyutlarında olumlu görüş belirtikleri ve ideal bir denetim sürecini benimsedikleri ve bunu sürece yansıttıkları; denetimi disiplinlerarası bir alan olarak gördükleri ve toplum, ekonomi, politika ile ilişkileri bağlamında ele aldıkları ve müfredat ve teknolojinin öğretim sürecindeki rolüne ilişkin genelde olumlu görüş bildirdikleri ortaya çıkmıştır. Bununla beraber, denetmenlerin demokratiklik ve çoğulculuk bağlamında  kapsayıcı bir tutumu benimsemelerine rağmen, temelde birtakım önyargılara sahip oldukları ve bunu ifadelerine yansıttıkları, toplum-ekonomi-ve politika ilişkisi bağlamında kurulan ilişkilerin daha mikro düzeyde kaldığı ve öğretimde müfredat ve teknolojinin rolüne ilişkin eleştirel görüşler sunmadıkları, bunları sadece yapılandırmacılık yaklaşımı bağlamında ele aldıkları  da bu araştırmayla ortaya çıkan diğer sonuçlar arasındadır. 

An investigation of individual innovativeness characteristics of high school teachers according to certain variablesLise öğretmenlerinin bireysel yenilikçilik özelliklerinin çeşitli değişkenlere göre incelenmesi

In this research, exploring the individual innovativeness levels of  high school teachers  is aimed.  The research is designed as a descriptive survey and the sample of the research included 320 teachers working in 19 high schools in  Şanlıurfa, Turkey.    To collect data, translated form of “Individual Innovativeness” scale which is developed by Hurt, Joseph and Cook (1977) was used . Data of the research were analysed using such  descriptive analysis as percentage, frequency, mean, standart deviation, t-test and one-way ANOVA. As a result of the study, the individual innovativeness category of the teachers was found as  the “early-majority”.   While the teachers’ opinions about their individual innovativeness showe no significant differences in terms of their genders, their opinions differed significantly according to  their ages and the high school type they work in. Accordingly, young teachers and teachers working in science high schools were found to have higher individual innovation scores than older teachers and teachers working in Anatolian and vocational high schools. Accordingly, in order to make the teachers more innovative, it’s a must to abolish bureaucratic, organizatioanal and individual impediments; to encourage teachers to take risks.Extended English summary is in the end of Full Text PDF (TURKISH) file. ÖzetBu çalışmada lise öğretmenlerinin bireysel yenilikçilik düzeylerinin tespit edilmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Betimsel tarama modelinde tasarımlanan araştırmanın örneklemini Şanlıurfa merkezde bulunan 19 okulda görev yapan toplam 320 öğretmen oluşturmaktadır.    Araştırmada öğretmenlerin bireysel yenilikçilik düzeylerini ölçmek için Hurt, Joseph ve Cook (1977) tarafından geliştirilen “Bireysel Yenilikçilik Ölçeği’nin” Türkçe formu kullanılmıştır ve bu form  Kılıçer ve Odabaşı (2010) tarafından geliştirilmiştir. Araştırma verilerinin analizinde betimleyici istatistikler kullanılmış ve bu kapsamda   ortalama, frekans, yüzde, standart sapma,  t-testi ve tek faktörlü varyans analizi (one-way ANOVA) gibi analizlere yer verilmiştir.  Araştırma sonuçlarına göre, öğretmenlerin bireysel yenilikçilik düzeyleri  orta düzeyde; yenilikçilik kategorileri ise  “sorgulayıcı”  kategorisindedir.  Öğretmenlerin bireysel yenilikçilik özellikleri cinsiyetlerine gore anlamlı bir biçimde değişmezken; yaş ve görev yapılan lise türü değişkenleri bakımından anlamlı farklar göstermektedir. Bu doğrultuda, genç öğretmenlerin ve fen liselerinde görev yapan öğretmenlerin bireysel yenilikçilik düzeyleri ileri yaşlarda olan ve diğer liselerde (Anadolu ve Meslek liseleri) çalışan öğretmenlere göre daha yüksek bulunmuştur.  Bu doğrultuda, öğretmenleri daha yenilikçi kılmak için mevcut bürokratik, örgütsel ve bireysel engellerin ortadan kaldırılması, öğretmenlerin yeni uygulamaları denemeye, risk almaya, işbirliği yapmaya, yaratıcı fikirlerini ifade etmeye ve paylaşmaya  teşvik edilmesi  gerekmektedir. Çalışmanın genellenebilirliğini arttırmak için  çalışmanın  farklı eğitim kademelerini de içerecek biçimde genişletilmesi, örneklem sayısının arttırılması sağlanabilir

Okul Yöneticilerinin Atanmasında Kaotik Dönem ve Etkileri

. Bu çalışmada 2014 yılında okul müdürlerinin, müdürlük görevinden alınmaları ve yeniden müdür olarak görevlendirilmemelerine ilişkin süreçte yaşananlar ve bu durumla başlayan kaotik dönem tekrar görevlendirilmeyen müdürlerle yapılan görüşmelerden elde edilen bulgulara ve ulaşılan sonuçlara dayalı olarak incelenmektedir. Veriler nitel yollarla elde edilmiştir. Yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme formu kullanılarak 14 kişi ile yüz yüze görüşülmüş, veri kaybı olmaması için görüşmeler kayıt altına alınmıştır. Veri çözümleme Nvivo 10 yazılım programı kullanılarak gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırmanın katılımcıları; müdürlerin görevden alınma sürecini tamamen “öznel” bulduklarını, görevden alınmaların nesnel herhangi bir nedene dayanmadığını, aksine “politik” görüşleri nedeniyle “keyfiyet” ve “adam kayırmacılığa” dayalı olarak gerçekleştiğini belirtmiştir. Katılımcılar, bu sürecin genelde eğitim sistemi özelde de okullar, okul paydaşları, yeni görev verilen yöneticiler ve kendileri açısından oldukça olumsuz sonuçlar doğurduğunu ileri sürmüşlerdir. Araştırma konusu olan sürece ilişkin bulgular ve ulaşılan sonuçlar üzerinde yapılan yorum ve önerilerin, hem gelecekte yapılacak müdür atamalarına hem de bu alanda yapılacak tartışmalara katkıda bulunması umulmaktadır

Gender and Socio-Economic Background Aspect of Inclusion: A Perspective from Turkey

This study aims to identify the opinions of teachers about the inclusive education policies and practices regarding the gender and socio-economic backgrounds of students. Phenomenology, as a qualitative research method was used in this study and eighteen teachers selected by criterion sampling technique constituted the sample of this study. The data of the study were collected with semi-structured interview forms and analyzed with content analysis method. As a result of the study, it was identified that although there have been tremendous improvements in ensuring the access of female students and students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds in the education system, it is revealed that educational inequalities and injustices continue to exist and several female students and students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds are excluded from education system due to several reasons in Turkey. In that regard, it is suggested that the policies and practices towards inclusive education should shift towards an improvement in education system with the aim of increasing inclusion, justice, equity and diversity in all spheres of educational life

A Critical Review of Religious Education Policies and Practices of Turkey from the Perspective of Inclusion

This study presents a critical review of religious education policies and practices from the perspective of inclusion. In this sense, it raises the problematics of compulsory and optional religious education courses and Imam Hatip schools, which have an important place in state-religion relationships in Turkey as an inclusive education issue. Considering the education policies and practices that emerged as a result of these policies, it can be argued that no matter how objective, democratic, pluralistic and thus inclusive the discourses the authorities and governments used were, from the very beginning, they did not manage to be independent of any ideology and included exclusive practices in differing aspects. Accordingly, what is expected from the Turkish education system is to embrace an inclusive approach that encourages the representation of all religious groups and atheists and to prioritise "students," not ideologies