Toward a Measure of Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy for Character Education: The Character Education Efficacy Belief Instrument and Its Turkish Adaptation Study

Öz

In this paper, we describe the development and testing of an instrument designed to measure teachers’ sense of efficacy for character education and its Turkish Adaptation Study. The relevance of the teacher efficacy construct for character education is detailed and the results of two surveys of teachers in the United States of America and a survey of teachers of Turkey are reported. These results of U.S. samples suggest that: 1) teachers generally possess a positive sense of efficacy for character education, but doubt their abilities to provide character education for students who may lack good character, 2) elementary teachers have significantly higher levels of character education teaching efficacy than high school teachers, and 3) staff development training and character education conference sessions have a positive impact on teachers’ sense of efficacy for character education, but universitybased coursework provides no significant boost in teacher efficacy. On the other hand, the studies of bilingual equivalence and reliability reveal that the Turkish form has satisfactory statistical properties. The implications of these results are discussed and recommendations for teacher educators are offered.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Character Education, Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy, Scale Construction.

Öğretmenlerin Karakter Eğitiminde Yetkinlik Duygusu Konusunda Bir Ölçme Aracına Doğru: Karakter Eğitimi Yetkinlik İnancı Skalası (KEYİS) ve Türkçeye Uyarlanma Çalışması

Öz

Öğretmenlerin karakter eğitimi konusundaki algılarını ölçmek için hazırlanan bir ölçme aracının geliştirilmesi, test edilmesi ve Türkçeye uyarlanmasının ele alınacağı bu makalede öğretmenlerin yetkinlik yapısının karakter eğitimiyle ilişkisi ayrıntılı olarak incelenmekte ve Amerika'da öğretmenler arasında yapılan iki araştırma ve Türkiye'de öğretmenler üzerinde yapılan bir çalışmanın sonuçları değerlendirilmektedir. Amerika'da yapılan araştırma sonuçları şunları ortaya koymaktadır: (i) Öğretmenler genellikle karakter eğitiminin yetkinlikleri ile ilgili olarak olumlu bir duyguya sahiptirler; ancak kendilerinin iyi karakterden yoksun öğrencilere karakter eğitimi sağlama yetenekleri konusunda kuşku duymaktadırlar. (ii) İlköğretim öğretmenleri lise öğretmenlerine göre daha yüksek düzeyde bir karakter eğitimi yetkinliliği inancına sahiptirler. (iii) Personel geliştirme eğitimi ve karakter eğitimi konferansları öğretmenlerin karakter eğitiminin yetkinliği duyguları üzerinde olumlu bir etki yapmaktadır; ancak üniversiteye dayalı kurs çalışması öğretmen verimliliğinde önemli bir artış sağlamamaktadır. Türkçe uyarlanma çalışması ise ölçeğin gerekli istatistiki yeterlilikleri taşıdığını ortaya koymaktadır. Makalenin sonunda ise bu sonuçlar tartışılmakta ve öğretmenlere yönelik önerilerde bulunulmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Karakter Eğitimi, Öğretmen Yetkinliği, Ölçek Geliştirme

Kaynakça

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