Turkish Primary School Teachers’ Goal Orientations for Teaching

Abstract

This study aims to investigate what Turkish primary school teachers' goal orientations are in the teaching environment, how these goal orientations are correlated with one another and whether teachers' gender and teaching experiences make a significant difference. A relational survey method was used in this study. The participants consisted of 191 primary school teachers working at state schools in Nevşehir, Turkey. The "Goal Orientation Scale for Teaching", developed by Butler (2007) and finalized by Butler and Shibaz (2014), was used to collect the study data. The scale is composed of 21 five-point Likert-type items and consists of five sub-dimensions. To analyze the study data, independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance and simple correlation techniques were used. According to the results, while teachers highly favored the "mastery" and "relational" goal orientations, the "work avoidance" goal orientation turned out to be the one for which they had the lowest average. This situation indicates that primary school teachers would rather organize activities which help them to teach better in the teaching environment, improve their professional knowledge and skills and build close and caring relationships with their students. It seems that workload is not important for teachers when it comes to promoting their students' efforts for learning. Also, there were significant differences between male and female teachers, as well as between newly-qualified and experienced teachers, with regard to the "ability approach" goal orientation. It appears that female and newly-qualified teachers want to be recognized and appreciated more for their teaching abilities and efforts than their colleagues.

Investigating the Goal Orientations for Teaching of Teachers in Turkey According to Different Variables

“…This also points out that participant teachers do not ignore the problems they face in their professional lives and when they try to solve them, they feel successful. The results observed in other studies in the literature support current results (Han, Yin & Wang, 2015Retelsdorf & Gunther, 2011;Saban & Yıldızlı, 2017;Yıldızlı et al, 2016).…”

“…Teachers with mastery goal orientation, for example, tend to build good relationships with students, support their students more in their learning experiences, and thereby contribute to their social-emotional growth (Butler, 2012). In other researchs on the goal orientation of teachers, a weak and positively significant correlation between ability approach and work avoidance was observed (Butler, 2007(Butler, , 2012Yıldızlı et al 2016, Saban & Yıldızlı, 2017. Butler (2007) claimed that current condition is peculiar to teachers, unlike other studies conducted with students, and it is related to the ability approach, although there is no relation between the work avoidance and teachers' positive teacher orientations such as mastery and student relations.…”

“…Goal orientations reflect the efforts of teachers and individual goal preferences in their careers to become successful (Butler, 2007;Butler & Shibaz, 2014;Elliot & Mcgroger, 2001). In recent years, goal orientations for teaching have been recognized as a key aspect of teacher motivation, and its different aspects which are considered significant have been questioned for the quality of the learning and teaching process (Butler & Shibaz, 2014;Cho & Shim, 2013;George & Richardson, 2019;Mansfield & Beltman, 2014;Saban & Yıldızlı, 2017). The hypothetical framework of these studies is based on the AGT.…”

“…At the same time, it is assumed that further empirical research should be conducted to document the variables that play a significant role in the goal orientation of teachers for teaching in different cultures. By taking into account the fact that the researches about goal orientation for the teaching of teachers in Turkey are limited in number (Saban & Yıldızlı, 2017;Yıldızlı, Saban & Baştuğ, 2016), the current research was planned to be carried out in the different provinces of Turkey with teachers working in different branches and was intended to examine the teachers' goal orientations for teaching.…”

The Relationship Between the Teaching Goal Orientations and Teaching Approach of Physical Education and Sports Teachers

“…It has been observed that the opinions of teachers between 6-10 years are lower than those with other professional seniority (Table 1). Saban and Yıldızlı (2017) found that teachers with 1-5 years of professional seniority had a higher attitude towards goal orientation than teachers with 6-10 years of professional seniority. Teachers with 6-10 years of professional seniority were higher than teachers with 11-15 years of teaching experience.…”