This research investigated perceptions, feelings and thoughts of early childhood teachers, working at university campus childcare centers in Turkey, regarding their profession and job. Understanding how they make the meaning of challenges, issues, difficulties, and enjoyment, and then connecting those to their job satisfaction, burnout, and stress were the goals. A total of nine early childhood teachers participated in the study. Using a phenomenological research design, two semi-structured focus group interviews, lasting about two hours, were conducted. Results showed that, overall, campus childcare teachers in this study enjoyed working with children despite their challenges of working with parents, low pay, and long and uncompensated work hours. The quality of the relationship with parents seems to have a very powerful effect on teachers’ job satisfaction and on their motivation. On the other hand, their love for children and passion about their work as well as having positive work environment help them re-build their motivation. Their personal and collective efficacy helps maintainıng their dedication and commitment to the profession.

The aim of the present study is to identify primary school principals' self-monitoring skills. The study adopted the general survey model and its population comprised primary school principals serving in the city of Diyarbakir, Turkey, while 292 of these constituted the sample. Self-Monitoring Scale was used as the data collection instrument. In data analysis, descriptive statistics, t-test, homogeneity of variances, One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's test were used. The primary school principals' mean self-monitoring score was found to be 9.72. In addition, primary school principals' self-monitoring skills did not significantly vary in terms of gender and length of service. On the other hand, primary school principals who were class teachers had a higher level of self-monitoring skills than subject teachers; Faculty of Education graduates had a higher level of self-monitoring skills than those of other faculties', teachers serving as principals had a higher level of self-monitoring skills than both principals and assistant principals at a significant level.

In this study, it were aimed to determine how the secondary school administrators and teachers influence each other. The data was collected from 18 school administrators and 20 teachers. The sample of the study consisted of secondary school administrators and teachers working at Ankara, Kiriklale, Kirsehir, Konya, Mugla, Izmir, Mus, Bursa, Izmit, Istanbul city centers, Turkey. The data in the study were collected through semi-structured interviews. Semi-structured interview forms including six questions were developed for based on the sub-objectives Kipnis ve Schmidt’s classification, which are set as a) friendliness, b) reason, c) bargain, d) coalitions, e) assertiveness, f) higher authority and g) sanction. According to the results of the study, while teachers use friendliness, reasoning and bargaining tactics to influence their managers. They use coalitions tactics at least. On the other hand, while school administrators use friendliness, bargaining and coalition tactics and they use assertiveness tactic at least.

In order to plan and enact appropriate learning environments in physical education (PE) teachers are increasingly directed to models based practice. The Sport Education model is one of these models for PE curriculum and teaching design that informs the content and pedagogical direction of sport teaching in PE. Despite Sport Education being well researched internationally, there are few examples of research consideration of this model in Australian PE in the last ten years. In this paper the aim is to appreciatively examine two secondary school PE teachers use of the Sport Education model in the context of their familiarisation of the new Australian Curriculum for Health and Physical Education. At the same time, exploring the use of Appreciative Inquiry to examine models based practice in PE was also an aim of the study. Data were collected from pre and post interviews with the teachers and an end of unit survey of the Year 9 students undertaking the Sport Education unit. The Sport Education model was found to be most suitable to teaching for student evidence of the personal and social skills elements of the Achievement Standard. Appreciative Inquiry was found to be suitable for foregrounding existing examples of teacher use of models based practice, highlighting what it is about the teachers that led them to stay with the model when the literature particular to Australian PE suggests mostly a continuation of the “traditional” physical education method.

The study developed and standardized an Inventory for measuring Students’ Integration into University Academic Culture named Inventory for Students’ Integration into University Academic Culture (ISIUAC). The increase in dropout rates, substance use, cultism and other deviant behaviours in Nigerian universities makes it necessary for one to ask the extent to which university students are integrated into the university academic culture. This necessitates the development of standardized instrument for the assessment of students’ integration into university academic culture. The Study employed an instrumentation design in which a five point scale inventory were developed and standardized. An initial draft of 60 item instrument was developed and standardized. After corrections a 58 item instrument emerged and was administered to 500 University students. The data collected were subjected to factor analysis. The result from factor analysis showed that 27 items loaded well on three factors with minimum loading of 035.  The 27 items were administered to 1,000 students to establish norms. The norm for the entire instrument was 105.19, the norms of male and female students were 100.96 and 109.21 respectively.  Cronbach alpha statistics was used to establish the reliability of the instrument, its result shows an internal consistency of 0.926 for the 27 items. Hypotheses were tested using t-test statistics; the result shows that there is a significant difference between the norms of male and female students. The manual of the ISIUAC shows the administration and scoring procedure of the inventory and its psychometric properties. The instrument ISIUAC is recommended therefore for assessing students’ integration into the university academic culture.

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of performance feedback (PF) provided to student teachers working with students with multiple disabilities and visual impairment (MDVI) on their teaching skills. The study group of the research was composed of 11 student teachers attending to the final year of the Teaching Students with Visual Impairments Program at a university in Ankara, Turkey. A quasi-experimental design, was used in the study. These student teachers recorded their classes for pretest and posttest and these video-recorded classes were thereafter watched by the observer, who completed semi-structured observation forms for each student teacher. The results of the analysis suggested a statistically significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores of the student teachers involved in the study before and after the performance feedback. The findings of the study were discussed in the light of the relevant literature and practical recommendations were included.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of a Creative Drama Based Perception of Self-sufficiency Skills Training Program on 2nd grade bachelor degree students’ (who are attending a preschool teacher training program) perception of self-sufficiency. This is a quasi-experimental study. Totally 50 students were equally divided into two groups as they are experimental group and control group. Experimental group has attended to 24 sessions of a course as creative drama based training program. The training program was performed by involve in four elements of Bandura’s self-sufficiency as they are; performance success, indirect experiences, verbal persuasion and emotional states. It has been prepared to promote students’ perception of self-sufficiency skills. Perception of Self-sufficiency Towards Using Creative Drama Technique (PSCDT) has been offered as pre-test and post-test to both groups in order to obtain the data. It has been found that there was significance on behalf of experimental group in the end of this study (p< ,05).

The purpose of this study was to adapt “Distributed Leadership Scale” originally developed by Davis into Turkish Language. A total of 386 participants including teachers employed in high schools in Tokat participated in the study. Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were performed to test the structural validity of the scale. EFA results illustrated that adapted scale consisted of seven factors. In the light of the original scale form, these factors were named as “School Organization”, “School Vision”, “School Culture”, “Instructional Program”, “Artifacts”, “Teacher Leadership”, “Principal Leadership”. The scale consisted of 34 items and reliability coefficients for the subscales from .75 and .92. Results finally revealed that Distributed Leadership Scale-Turkish Adapted Form is a valid and reliable measurement tool to be used in describing the distributed leadership behaviors in schools.

With the break of the civil war in Syria, many Syrians have been displaced either internally or as refugees. Turkey, one of the leading host of Syrian refugees, has made changes to the policies to accommodate the needs of Syrians. Education is one of the most prominent needs of displaced refugee children. While 80 percent of refugee children living in camps have access to formal education, only small number of children living outside the camps are attending schools. With the increased number of children, many of the governmental organizations, municipalities, and NGOs have been involved in an effort to establish schools for Syrian refugee children living outside of the camps. This article reports the results of a study conducted at a newly established host community school for Syrian refugee children in the City of Gaziantep during the 2014-2015 school year. The aim of the study was to look at the experiences of administrators, teachers, and a parent who were involved in the establishment of the schools. The study made use of qualitative case study methodology, where interviews, focus group, and field notes were the data sources. The results of the study indicated that there were many systematic challenges involved in the establishment of the school, but nevertheless the teachers, administrators and the parents were happy to have the opportunity to be involved in this effort. The curriculum used in the school provided cultural relevance for the students and made their transition to the context easier. Although the school was established with support from the municipality for that year, there were not solid plans in place to provide sustainability of the school. This study provides a unique insight into the current status of Syrian refugee children living in Turkey and should serve as a bridge to policy makers in designing educational programs for refugees.

The purpose of this study is to develop a reliable and valid measurement tool which will reveal teachers’ self-competences in education process. Participants of the study are 300 teachers working at state primary schools in the province of Gaziantep, Results of the exploratory factor analysis administered to the scale in order to determine its construct validity, indicated that it has four sub-dimensions. In accordance with the results of confirmatory factor analysis RMSEA was measured .050 level fit index. The determined levels for GFI is found to be 0.88, whereas for AGFI, 0.85 for NFI, 0.94 for CFI 0.98 and 0.94 for RFI. Also, non normed fit index, (NNFI) has been observed as 0.97. Four dimensions of the scale which was composed of 23 items account for approximately 54% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of internal consistency was counted .86 for the first dimension; .82 for the second dimension, .67 for the third dimension, .70 for the fourth dimension, and .92 for the entire scale. The scale, developed in order to measure teachers’ self-efficacy in the teaching process, proved to be valid and reliable based on the results of the related analyses.

Measuring the quality of the ‘product’ is elemental in education, and most studies depend on observational data about student achievement factors, focusing overwhelmingly on quantitative data namely achievement scores, school data like attendance, facilities, expenditure class size etc. But there is little evidence of learner perceptions. 553 students from two different universities, who graduated from 3 high school types, were asked to respond to two fundamental questions to reflect on school and classroom level achievement factors. 2294 responses produced eight categories in question one, teacher factors being the most preferred (n=424), followed by individual factors (n=404) and then family factors (n=395). As for liking towards a course, 1362 responses were produced, most frequent one being teacher’s attitude (n=205). Results indicate student perspective of causes of achievement is somewhat different from those expressed in quantitative studies. Girls attributed more achievement to study habits, family support whereas boys attributed more to school and technology. More emphasis is needed on perceived achievement factors for a sound evaluation of effectiveness in school.

The objective of the study was to find out the effect of EI and gender on job satisfaction of primary school teachers. A total of 300 (150 male and 150 female) primary school teachers were selected randomly for the study. Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS) and Teachers’ Job Satisfaction Scale (TJSS) were used to collect the data. The study found a significant positive relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction. Regression analysis showed that emotional management and emotional maturity significantly predicted the job satisfaction. The results of the two-way ANOVA showed that the interaction effect of gender and EI was not significant. Results also showed that level of EI significantly affected the job satisfaction of primary school teachers. However, there is no significant difference between male and female teachers regarding the level of job satisfaction. There are other factors which affect job satisfaction but the role of EI cannot be neglected. So the level of EI must be taken into consideration in order to select the best teachers.

Nowadays, technology is developing in a geometrically progressive manner. Its usage in different social areas is an imperative, rather than a choice. As expected, digital devices are applicable in the educational context, as well. Hence, the scope of the present study is to examine attitudes toward mobile learning among English teachers. For this purpose, we conducted a survey with 159 teachers from both state and private schools as well as universities in Turkey. In general, our results showed that teachers have positive attitudes toward the usage of mobile devices in the ESL learning context. However, there is an almost equal number of teachers who use and who do not use mobile devices and other digital contents in their classrooms. In addition, and according to teachers, there were two main obstacles to using mobile devices in teaching processes – lack of training and students' attitudes. On the other hand, the lowest ranked obstacles were school administrations and pedagogical justification.

This study investigated the effects of competitive and cooperative teaching techniques on Iranian adult EFL learners’ use of direct strategies. To this end, a sample of 88 non-English major university students at Sohrevardi Nonprofit College in Qazvin were assigned to two groups, and each group received instruction under one of the treatment conditions including cooperative and competitive teaching techniques. To collect data, the Persian translation of a modified version of the subsection of Oxford’s Strategy Inventory of Language Learning pertaining to direct strategy use was administered before and after the treatment. The obtained data were analyzed using an Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) procedure. The result of data analysis showed no significant difference between the effects of competitive and cooperative teaching techniques on direct strategy use of Iranian adult EFL learners. The findings of the present study may have implications for learners, teachers, and syllabus designers.

Although wealth of empirical researches have covered the impact of crucial, indispensable role reading skills play in the development of individuals’ mental faculties through the acquisition of knowledge in a particular language, scientific works on the assessment of the relationship(s) between pre-reading activities (consisting of games, puzzle solving, match making) and reading skills achievement remain depressingly scanty in Ghana. This study in the light of foregoing atmosphere explored how pre-reading activities facilitate pre-reading and reading skills among preschoolers with the use of randomized experimental control groups design which adopted pre and post-test of two classes, as well as observation guides to diagnose the problem of reading among the KG children in the two groups (control and treatment groups). The findings from these experimentations clearly portrayed the significant influence that pre-reading activities exert on the level of preschoolers reading skills achievements. Upon thorough analysis, and discussions predicated on the research outcome, it has been recommended that preschool educators incorporate levelappropriate pre-reading activities to enrich Preschool Education in Ghana.

Several studies have been conducted on technological, pedagogical content knowledge and web-based education. In this study, the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge and Educational Use of Web Technologies (TPCK-W) were analyzed in addition to the self-efficacy and attitudes of 33 teachers from eight different branches carrying out their duties in 19 countries of the European Union (EU). In this study, the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge-Web (TPCK-W) Survey developed by Lee, Tsai, and Chan was used. The data obtained statistics software was analyzed using SPSS for Windows 17.0 statistics software. As a result of the analysis, it was revealed that TPCK-W self-efficacy of teachers carrying out their duties in EU countries was high and their attitudes were positive; and age, experience, and gender did not affect their TPCK-W self-efficacy and attitudes. Moreover, participants’ general web attitudes changed positively, depending on their web communication, web content, and pedagogical use of the web.

The paper presents an educative experience organized in a postgraduate course in a faculty of education with the aim of facilitating students’ “affective self-understanding”. Affective self-understanding is a reflective practice that allows people to comprehend their own emotions in order to gain awareness of them. Students were spontaneously engaged in a laboratory, where they were invited to reflect on their emotional lives. The educative experience was subdivided into different phases requiring writing and analysis tasks. At the end of the experience, students were asked what they thought they had learned, what had been difficult, and what had been the most important phase for learning. Students’ answers were analyzed on the basis of grounded theory through an inductive process of analysis. The theoretical framework of the research is the cognitive theory of emotions. According to this theory, an emotional education is possible because we can understand emotions by identifying their cognitive component and the actions they induce.

Children from southern and northern Brazil have a basic knowledge of plants, which they observe during their everyday life. Children ages between 3 to 10 years old (kindergarten & primary school), but the majority of them in the age group of 4-5 (total 145) were asked to draw what they think is a plant (total sample=332). Afterwards, a equal number of boys and girls randomly chosen were interviewed individually (mix ability) to list plants they said they knew and where they had seen them. Then they were asked to give exemplars of the local plants which they had seen. These data from the exploratory study show that pupils are in touch with their environment and recognize plants that are part of it. The everyday experiences of these children in school and out of school, at home and in leisure activities with family and friends, contribute to their knowledge about plants and such knowledge is complemented in the preschool and primary school classes by appropriate teaching. Educational implications of these findings are discussed.

The objective of this study is to examine the teacher and parent views on the instruction of 5th grade students by branch teachers. This study is designed according to the phenomenology design and uses qualitative data. In order to collect data, open- ended questions were asked to 18 teachers and 16 parents of 5th grade students on the subject, and the responses were analyzed. According to the results of the study, for parents, the disadvantageous aspects of instruction of 5th grade students by branch teachers are that the students could not express themselves in the new class, there is no one knowing and monitoring them closely in the new class and students have difficulty in doing the performance homework. On the other hand, advantageous aspects for students according to parents are that branch teachers give instruction as they have command on the subject and students take multiple teachers as models. The study found the disadvantageous aspects for teachers as having difficulty in completing the curriculum, following homework and maintaining classroom discipline.

Facilitating effective mathematics learning and higher mathematics achievement have long been recognized as a key to the scientific and technological advancement of the African continent. While the central role that language proficiency plays in mathematics teaching and learning has received an overwhelming research attention in the literature over the past two decades, this is not the case among African policy-makers and political leaders. Drawing mainly from our professional experiences as mathematics educators and from the international research literature, our primary intent in this paper is to answer this question: How does the learning of mathematics in English at the basic school level help or hinder students’ mathematical proficiency? To answer this question, the paper is organized as follows. The first part, the introduction, gives a brief overview of the language of learning and teaching in Africa. The second part describes the method and conceptual framework undergirding the research. In the third section, we have analyzed the effects of mathematics learning and teaching through English for basic students whose mother tongue is a Ghanaian language. The conclusion offers four recommendations for developing and improving the mathematics proficiency of students in basic schools.