Effects of Emergency Distance Education on Teacher Training Process in Turkey: Instructors’ Opinions

Abstract

Emerging in 2019 and then spreading throughout the world, COVID-19 has led to the application of emergency action plans in almost all areas of life. In this process, the Turkish education system also made a transition to distance education in schools of all types and levels. The main purpose of this study is to determine the views of the instructors regarding the prospective teacher education practices implemented via distance education in Turkey during the pandemic period. This study was carried out using a case study method. The data collected through an open-ended questionnaire were analyzed using content analysis. In conclusion, it was found that universities in Turkey do not have a functional distance education policy for the urgent distance education process, and a centralized policy is followed in most universities for distance education. Also, it was concluded that limited interaction, lack of equipment, and infrastructure problems negatively affect the distance education process. Moreover, it was found that distance education applications are not convenient for teacher education, there are some negative effects of conducting teaching practice through distance education, and support is needed in technical, human, and managerial issues for teacher education through distance education to be successful.