Investigation of anxiety levels of primary school teachers' towards out-of-school learning environments

In the study, it is aimed to examine the anxiety levels of primary school teachers towards out-of-school learning environments. In the study, which adopted a mixed research approach, exploratory sequential design was used. 407 primary school teachers working in Malatya city center participated in the research in the 2021-2022 academic year. Within the scope of the purpose of the study, opinions were received from 10 classroom teachers on the basis of voluntariness determined by the criterion sampling method. Personal information is included in the first part of the 25-item scale, which is used as a data collection tool at the quantitative stage. In the qualitative phase, a semi-structured interview form was used as a data collection tool. The data obtained from the scale scores used for the sub-problems in the research were analyzed using descriptive statistical methods. Open-ended questions in the semi-structured interview form were analyzed by content analysis. From the research findings, it was concluded that the anxiety scores of the primary school teachers towards out-of-school learning activities differ in terms of gender, school type and socioeconomic characteristics of the settlement where they work. It is seen that primary school teachers mostly determine out-of-school learning areas according to the socio-economic opportunities of the school. According to the teachers, it was stated that out-of-school activities support classroom learning, increase students' knowledge level, and improve their responsibilities. It has been concluded that teacher concerns in out-of-school learning areas are caused by student safety, activity planning and economic reasons. Based on the results of the research, suggestions were made to reduce the anxiety levels of primary school teachers' towards out-of-school learning environments.