Supporting teachers’ professional development: Examining the opinions of pre-school teachers attending courses in an undergraduate program

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the opinions of preschool teachers about courses they attended in a preschool undergraduate program in order to support their professional development. The case study, one of the qualitative research designs, was adopted in the study. Two sampling strategies, snowball and criterion sampling, were used for the determination of participants. 26 teachers from 6 different preschools voluntarily participated in the research. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews carried out in two steps; before and after participating in the courses in the preschool undergraduate program. Descriptive analysis was employed in the analysis of the data. Results revealed that preschool teachers put into practice in-service program outputs tailored to their needs and in line with their professional development needs and made suggestions so that in-service training programs to be designed for their professional development can be more effective. In conclusion, the preschool teachers were found to need alternative in-service training programs.

Professional Development Needs Analysis of School Administrators and Teachers in Turkey

“…In addition, Yüksel et al (2015) state that the use of picture analysis can be beneficial for the learning and development of children. According to Toran and Yağan Güder (2020), pre-school teachers state that they more often participate in training related to their needs; therefore, it can be suggested here that top-level school administrators give priority to the training subjects most desired by teachers. Furthermore, this is important because it appeared from the responses by teachers in this study that they strive to develop their students in a multifaceted manner.…”

Examining and Comparison of Education and Training Systems from Pre-School to High School in Turkiye and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, States of the Turkic World

“…Especially within the scope of common language use, in 1928, with the application of the Unified New Turkish Alphabet, with the transition of the Republic of Türkiye to the Latin Alphabet, alphabet unity was tried to be achieved in all the Turkic World States, and as a result, the door to language integrity and unity was opened (Caliskan, 2018b;Sethakul & Utakrit, 2019). context, the foundations of education and training practices can be revealed, and it contributes to the formation of theory by observing how and how the studies done in one country emerge in other countries (Toran & Güder, 2020).…”

Okul Öncesi Öğretmeni Mesleki Öz-Yeterlik Ölçeği Geliştirilmesi: Geçerlik ve Güvenirlik Çalışması

“…These competence areas are supported during both pre-service and in-service training periods. With the specialization in these efficacy areas, it is aimed that teachers will be able to effectively implement practices that consider the best interests of children (Toran & Yağan Güder, 2020). In the study conducted to determine the relationship between the pedagogical beliefs and pedagogical self-efficacies of preschool teachers, it was determined that while preschool teachers with child-centered pedagogical beliefs considered themselves competent, preschool teachers with teacher-centered pedagogical beliefs did not see themselves as insufficient (Gökçen & Kutluca, 2022).…”

“…Bu yeterlik alanları hem hizmet öncesi hem de hizmet içi eğitim dönemlerinde desteklenmektedir. Bu yeterlik alanlarındaki uzmanlaşma ile öğretmenlerin çocukların yüksek yararını gözeten uygulamaları etkili bir şekilde gerçekleştirebilmeleri hedeflenmektedir (Toran & Yağan Güder, 2020).…”