The attitudes of public school teachers towards private schools

ABSTRACT This study was conducted in order to develop a Likert type scale to determine the attitudes of public school teachers towards private schools. The population of research consists of public school teachers in Istanbul. The sample of research consists of 511 teachers working at 29 public schools in Istanbul, Kartal selected by random sampling. Applications were conducted during the 2014-2015 school year. First of all, it was aimed to develop an assessment instrument that measures the attitudes of teachers towards private schools. While developing the scale, 106 items were developed and presented to the experts. As a result of Lawshe analysis that looked at content validity, 31 items were eliminated. The new scale consisting of 55 items were administered to the 512 public school teachers. Next, principal component analysis and factor analysis were conducted in order to determine construct validity and a scale with 26 items and two sub-dimensions (negative image and prestige) was optained. To calculate reliability, the Cronbach's was calculated as αT=.84. For the sub-dimensions, the Cronbach's coefficients were determined between as Cronbach's α=.92, for negative image sub-dimension and Cronbach's α=.86 for prestige sub-dimension. On the other hand, it was found that item-total and item-remainder correlations were significant and the items were distinctive. The correlations between factors were found significant. Acquired data confirms that the scale is valid and reliable. In the second phase of research, the attitudes of public school teachers were examined with Private School Attitude Scale. The asquired data was analysed by SPSS 21.0 statistical package. The total scores and sub-dimension scores of public school teachers were compared according to demographic variables. As a result of the research, it was determined that the public school teachers' attitudes towards private schools are negative and related suggestions were presented. Key Words: Private School, Public School, Attitude Scale, Teacher