The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Anatolian Teacher High Schools (ATHSs) in terms of serving their intended purpose. The research design of the study comprised a nation-wide survey and document analysis. The sample for the survey consisted of 1026 students, 612 teachers, 877 parents and 259 graduates selected through stratified random sampling over 33 ATHSs across 32 provinces in Turkey, and 302 prospective teachers, selected through cluster sampling, in Gazi University Faculty of Education. Two distinct instruments were used for data collection / survey questionnaires containing multiple choice and open-ended questions / and attitude scales containing five-point Likert type questions. To analyze quantitative data, descriptive statistics, t-test and two-way ANOVA were conducted. The open-ended questions were analyzed via content analysis. Results indicated that students, graduates, teachers, parents and administrators described ATHSs as the ideal schools for students who want to enter university and/or become teachers. Students and their parents prefer ATHSs in order to guarantee a university program for a career with the guarantee of finding a job. During the four years in ATHSs students are offered quality education and their attitudes toward the teaching profession have developed positively. More than half of the graduates entered a university program, a great majority of which entered teacher-training programs. ATHS graduates studying in teacher training programs are different from their classmates graduated from other high schools with respect to preferring teaching as a profession, the priority they gave to the teacher training programs in the university entrance exam, university entrance exam scores, academic achievement in teacher training programs and commitment to teaching as a lifelong career however they are not different with respect to attitudes toward the teaching profession. The majority of the graduates who were not able to enter a university program are unemployed. Since ATHS graduates are not considered as semi-professionals, there is no specific employment area available for them. Results also indicated that ATHSs serve their intended purpose, however not to extend they are expected to. Therefore, some reform movements are needed to increase the effectiveness of these schools.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12604844/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 February 2004 |
| Creators | Basaran, Semra Tican |
| Contributors | Aksu, Meral |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Ph.D. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | To liberate the content for public access |
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