The SelfAssessment Skill in The Pre-Service Teacher Education

Abstract

This research aimed at finding out whether the self-assessment education for teacher trainees during their pre-service is affective. The sample of the study consists of 29 teacher trainees at the Department of Child Development and Pre-school Education in the Faculty of Vocational Education at Gazi University. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were applied in order to collect data. Observation and document analysis techniques were applied. Pearson's correlation coefficient was accounted to determine whether there are significant differences between selfassessment points of the teacher trainees and the university teacher's points given to teacher trainees. The content analysis was applied on the qualitative data. The result of this research points out that training through self-assessment improve the teacher trainees' skills of self-assessment. Summary Besides the fact that it is possible to evaluate the vocational aptitudes of teachers through the participation of their administrators, colleagues, students and the families of their students (Hall & Harding, 2002), it is possible to evaluate in a more useful way through their own participation (Delandshere, 1996; Uhlenbeck, Verloop and Beijaard, 2002). Gözütok (2000) has stated that the most ideal method to be used for evaluating the teacher is “self-evaluation”. Selfevaluation can be defined as the individual's evaluation of his/her level of reaching the learning objectives, which have been specified in the curriculum or which he/she has specified, by using the appropriate evaluation techniques according to the criteria, again which have been specified in the curriculum or which he/she has specified. The activity of selfevaluation requires reflection (Danielson and McGreal, 2000, 47). There are three reflection areas, namely technical, practical and critical reflection (Wakefield, 1996). The reflection area widens from technical to critical. Thus, it is possible to make a connection between the reflection area and self-evaluation. The skill of selfevaluation is one of the competencies that the Ministry of National Education (2002) expects the student teachers to gain during their preservice education. For the student teachers to gain this skill, it is possible to apply activities such as preparing development files, writing reflective writings, preparing selfevaluation scales and filling in this scale for defining what type of a development process they experienced during the lessons they attended at the faculty of education. Purpose An empirical research, proving the levels of participation of the student teachers to the activities towards improving their skills of self-evaluation in the teaching practices carried out at a faculty of vocational education in Turkey, is revealed in this article. In this research, the general objective of which is to improve the selfevaluation skills of the student teachers, the answers to the following questions are searched for: 1. Is there a significant co-relation between the points the student teachers have granted to themselves and the points the instructor has granted for their teaching skills in the process of teaching practices? 2. What is the level of the participation of the student teachers to the activities enabling the improvement of their skills of self-evaluation? 3. How do the student teachers participate in the activities enabling the improvement of their skills of self-evaluation? Method The research is an empirical research, with a control group, pretest and finaltest designs, in which the techniques of observation and document analysis are applied. A total number of 29 student teachers, 15 whom are in the experimental group and 14 whom are in the control group have participated in the research. All the participants are composed of the female students studying in the final grade at the Department of Child Development and Preschool Education at Gazi University Faculty of Vocational Education. The data were collected in the fall semester of 2000-2001 academic year. An education lasting for 29.10 lesson hours (1315 minutes) was applied to the student teachers in the subjects of student centered teaching and selfevaluation. This is an education given theoretically in the classrooms of the faculty by the researcher. Meanwhile, the student teachers in the control group prepared the plan of the lessons they would give at the practice school. Later, the student teachers in both groups carried out their teaching practices lasting 6 to 8 weeks. During these practices, the instructors (mostly the person acting as the researcher) observed the student teachers by using an observation form in the type of five-point grading scale. The student teachers were asked to write an educational diary following each teaching practice. Moreover, a horizontal line numbered from 1 to 10 was drawn in each group at the end of the term. The student teachers were asked to mark the point where they are on the line by considering their competency in teaching skills. In addition, only the student teachers in the experimental group were asked to write their opinions and suggestions about the applicability of the lesson plan after applying each lesson plan. The Pearson's correlation coefficient was calculated so as to find out whether there is a significant corelation between the points they granted to themselves and the points the instructor granted for their teaching skills in the process of teaching practice of the student teachers. Content analysis was carried out on the opinions and suggestions concerning the writings in the diaries and the applicability of the lesson plans (Patton, 1987). Findings While it was found out in the research that there is a significant co-relation (r= .53, p< .05) between the points the student teachers in the experimental group granted to themselves and the points the instructor granted, it was found out that there is a low corelation (r= -.11, p> .05) in a negative way between the points the student teachers in the control group granted to themselves and the points the instructor granted. It was found out that there are more opinions concerning their own teaching skills in the educational diaries (49 positive, 44 negative opinions) the student teachers in the experimental group wrote than the ones the student teachers wrote (21 positive, 20 negative opinions) in the control group. The student teachers in the experimental group presented a total number of 146 opinions (technical= 66, practical= 50, critical= 30) which can be involved in the reflection areas in their diaries whereas the student teachers in the control group presented a total number of 37 opinions (technical= 11, practical= 19, critical= 7). However, the opinions of the student teachers in the experimental group concerning the applicability of the lesson plans are intensified more on teaching learning activities. Nevertheless, it was also found out that they were unable to make detailed explanations concerning the sufficiency of the lesson plans in reaching the objectives, the reasons why the lesson plan was not been able to be applied or the parts which had to be changed in the plan. Conclusions The research put forward that the education given to the student teachers on self-evaluation during their pre-service education was effective. Although the student teachers in the experimental group were given only one semester of education in a planned way, they were able to see themselves as someone else and to evaluate in an objective way. The continuation of the studies towards improving the selfevaluation skill during the preservice education of the student teachers can be more useful. The fact that the teacher trainers constitute a model for the student teachers by carrying out studies towards evaluating themselves as well in this process and they support their studies on this subject are also very important. Delandshere (1996) stressed that evaluation is an activity required to be carried out continuously and dynamically. It is necessary for the student teachers to adopt this opinion and to become aware that the only person to be able to evaluate them continuously during their teaching lives is themselves

Keywords

• teacher education , teacher evaluation , practicum , self-assessment.

Hizmet Öncesi Öğretmen Eğitiminde Kendini Değerlendirme Becerisi

Öz

Bu araştırma, öğretmen adaylarının hizmet öncesinde aldıkları kendini değerlendirme eğitiminin etkili olup olmadığını ortaya koymayı amaçlamıştır. Çalışmanın örneklemini Gazi Üniversitesi Mesleki Eğitim Fakültesi'nin Çocuk Gelişimi ve Okulöncesi Eğitim Bölümü'nde okuyan 29 son sınıf öğrencisi oluşturmuştur. Verileri toplamak için hem nicel, hem de nitel araştırma yöntemleri uygulanmıştır. Gözlem ve doküman incelemesi teknikleri kullanılmıştır. Öğretmen adaylarının kendini değerlendirme puanları ve öğretim elemanının değerlendirme puanları arasında anlamlı bir ilişki olup olmadığını belirlemek amacıyla Pearson korelasyon katsayısı hesaplanmıştır. Nitel veriler üzerinde içerik çözümlemesi yapılmıştır. Araştırmanın sonucu, öğretmen adaylarının kendini değerlendirme konusunda eğitim almalarının onların kendini değerlendirme becerilerini geliştirdiğini göstermiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• öğretmen eğitimi , öğretmeni değerlendirme , öğretmenlik uygulaması , kendini değerlendirme.

Kaynakça

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