Analyzing self-confidence and professional attitudes of preschool teachers

The purpose of this study is to examine pre-school teachers' levels of self-confidence and professional attitudes. This descriptive study has a correlational survey design. The population of this study consists of pre-school teachers teaching in public and private primary schools, kindergartens, girls' vocational high schools, and day care centers in Afyonkarahisar and its neighbor villages in the 2013-14 academic year. The sample of the study includes 179 pre-school teachers randomly selected from primary schools in Afyonkarahisar and its neighbor villages. Data were collected through the Self-Confidence Scale (Akın, 2007) and the Attitudes Toward Teaching Profession Scale (Çetin, 2006). To analyze the data, frequencies, percentages and mean ranks were computed and Kruskal-Wallis H Test, Mann-Whitney U Test and Spearman Brown Correlation were employed. Results indicated that there was a significant, positive relationship between pre-school teachers' self-confidence and professional attitudes. Pre-school teachers' self-confidence and professional attitudes did not differ on their gender, age and teaching experience whereas their professional attitudes significantly differed on the school they graduated from. Keywords: Self-confidence, professional attitude, pre-school teachers