Çocuk Gelişimi ve Okul Öncesi Öğretmenlerinin Mesleki Yaşamlarında Karşılaştıkları Zorluklara Öz Yeterlik İnançları ve Yaşam Doyumlarının Etkisi

Abstract

Employment opportunities in special education and rehabilitation centers are provided for child developers and preschool teachers after graduation. However, due to undergraduate programs not being as broad as those for graduates in the field of special education, educators in this branch may encounter certain problems and put up with some difficulties, especially when first starting their profession. Educators' self-efficacy beliefs are among the factors thought to have an effect on these difficulties being experienced. Educators' self-efficacy beliefs have been determined to affect the professional difficulties they experience. On the other hand, the level of satisfaction educators get from their experiences also affects the difficulties they experience. Educators with high life satisfaction are seen to encounter few difficulties. This study aims to test the effect of the selfefficacy beliefs and life satisfaction of child developers and preschool teachers working in special education and rehabilitation centers on the difficulties they encounter in their professional lives. The sample of the research consists of 200 educators (132 child developers and 68 preschool teachers) between the ages of 21 and 52. A personal information form as well as the Teacher Self-Efficacy Beliefs Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, and Tool for Determining Difficulties Special Education Teachers Experience have been used as data collection tools for being able to obtain detailed information related to the teachers participating in the study. The study analyzes the obtained data using the package program SPSS 24.00. The independent samples t-test, one-way analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation analysis have been used in analyzing the data. Relationships have been found for life satisfaction with difficulties experienced and self-efficacy beliefs as well as between difficulties experienced in special education and self-efficacy beliefs. The obtained findings have been discussed within the scope of the literature, and some suggestions have been made as a result.