The purpose of this study is to explore the relationships between occupational professionalism and organizational cynicism levels of teachers. The sample of this study, designed as a survey research, consists of 436 teachers employed in schools in the city center of the province of Denizli, Turkey. The data of the study were collected through the administration of Teachers' Occupational Professionalism Scale and Organizational Cynicism Scale to the sample group. In data analysis, descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA and regression analyses were conducted. The results of the study indicate that occupational professionalism of teachers was high and their organizational cynicism was close to medium level. Low and negative relations were found between occupational professionalism of teachers and their cognitive and affective cynicism levels. According to regression analysis, only contribution to organization as one of the four sub-dimensions of occupational professionalism was a significant predictor of cognitive and affective cynicism of teachers. Occupational professionalism of teachers was not observed to be significantly influential on the behavioral cynicism of teachers. All four dimensions of occupational professionalism of teachers together explained 4.3% of cognitive cynicism of teachers and 5% of their affective cynicism.

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The purpose of this descriptive study is to explore the relationships between teachers' critical thinking dispositions and their perceptions of occupational professionalism. The sample of the study has consisted of 242 teachers specified from the population of upper-secondary school teachers working in Mentese, Mugla, Turkey. The data of the study were collected through the administration of the UF/EMI Critical Thinking Dispositions Assessment scale and the Teachers' Occupational Professionalism scale. In the analysis of the data, descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA and multiple regression analysis were employed. The results of the study revealed that: (1) Teachers have a high level of critical thinking disposition which does not significantly change for the variables of gender, school type or seniority, but it does for education level; (2) Teachers have a high level perception of their own professionalism within professional awareness and emotional labor dimensions of occupational professionalism. They have a moderate level perception of their own professionalism within contribution to organization and personal development dimensions of occupational professionalism. Their total perception scores do not sinificantly change for the veriables of gender, education, school type or seniority. (3) The dimensions of critical thinking dispositions of teachers together predict a significant part of their occupational professionalism perceptions. In short teachers' critical thinking dispositions seem to be an important component of teacher professionalism.

ABSTRACT:The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between organizational ethical climate and political behavior on the basis of the faculty members' perceptions. The sample of the study is comprised of 440 faculty members employed at Mugla Sıtkı Kocman University. The data of the study were collected through the Ethical Climate Questionnaire and the Political Behavior Questionnaire. In the analysis of the data, descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, LSD test, and multiple regression analysis were employed. The findings of the study revealed that the faculty members have a medium level of ethical climate perception and political behavior perception, and the faculty members' ethical climate perception is a significant predictor of their political behavior perception. There are no significant differences among faculty members' organizational ethical climate and political behavior perceptions regarding their gender and academic rank. The results of the study have provided opportunities for the executives of higher education to develop better policies and practices regarding ethical climate and political behaviors.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between student achievement, income distributions and education expenditures in the member countries of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The study was based on literature review and its data were gathered from OECD sources to a large extent. In the study, current student achievements of the member countries were expressed with PISA 2015 scores. The study revealed that income inequality was one of the variables influencing the PISA achievements of the students. However, it was remarkable that some countries whose income inequality scores were above OECD average were also successful in PISA 2015. In this regard, the study also evaluated how OECD countries distributed their educational resources, how efficient they were in using these resources on education, their ratios of public and private expenditures on education, and annual expenditure on education per-student. It was finally concluded that student achievements of OECD countries in PISA was related to the just and efficient use of educational resources rather than the amount of educational resources allocated.

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The purpose of this mixed methods study is to determine whether pre-primary education participation influences the academic achievement of the students in the later years of schooling, based on the results of the Upper-Secondary Education Entrance Exam (TEOG) in Turkey and to convey the reasons for parents to send or not to send their children to pre-primary education by parents' views. The TEOG exam participants from 7 secondary schools in district of Ula-Muğla in the 2015-2016 school year constitutes the study group of the quantitative part of the study. 12 parents selected among the parents of the students in the quantitative study group constitute the study group for the qualitative part of the study. The quantitative data related to the TEOG scores of the participants were obtained from school records. Qualitative data of the study were obtained from interviews with parents. While descriptive and comparative statistics were employed in the analysis of the quantitative data, content analysis was utilized in the analysis of the qualitative data. The major results of the study are: (1) Pre-primary education participation, whether in rural or urban areas, significantly affects the academic achievement of student in later schooling years. (2) The academic achievement of students is higher for girls than boys regardless of their participation in pre-primary education. (3) The participation in pre-primary education reduces the achievement gap between the gender. (4) Gender is not a significant factor for parents whether or not to send their children to pre-primary education. (5) Parents whose children participated or not participated in pre-primary education are well-aware of the possible benefits of pre-school education.