Classroom teachers' perceptions towards their cultural capital, self-efficacy and schools' social capital

The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions of classroom teachers about their cultural capital, self-efficacy and social capital of the school they work and the relationship between these variables. In the study, a mixed method was used in which quantitative and qualitative methods were used together. In the study, which is one of the mixed method designs, exploratory sequential pattern was used, stratified sampling method was used while sampling. The sample of the the research is 583 classroom teachers in the center of Hatay province, while the qualitative phase is composed of 11 volunteer teachers. Cultural Capital Scale (Avcı, 2015), Self-efficacy Scale (Çapa, Çakıroğlu & Sarıkaya, 2005), Social Capital Scale (Ekinci, 2008), personal information form, and semi-structured interview form were used for data collection. In the analysis of the quantitative data, in addition to descriptive statistics, correlation and multiple regression analysis were performed with Mann Whitney U, Kruskal Wallis H tests. Qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis technique. At the end of the study, it was found out that teachers' perceptions of cultural capital, self-efficacy and social capital were high level. Classroom teachers' perceptions of cultural capital were significantly different according to gender, age, education level of parents, number of siblings, duration of service, duration of service at school, number of students in class and frequency of using social media. Self-efficacy perceptions were significantly different in terms of gender, age, maternal education level, number of students in class, socio-economic level of school environment and frequency of social media use. It was found that the perceptions of the social capital of the school in which they were employed differed significantly in terms of age, length of service, length of service in the school, class level, number of students in the class and socio-economic level of the school environment. It was found that the participants' perceptions of cultural capital and self-efficacy together moderately affect the perception of the school's social capital. In the qualitative part of the study, it was revealed that according to classroom teachers, their cultural capital consisted of behaviors, interests and personal experiences. The participants think that individual efforts and the environment they live positively affect their cultural capital and that environmental and individual factors negatively affect them. According to the participants, self-efficacy of teaching consists of professional and personal characteristics. Motivating students to attract the attention of students, such as stimulating the application of the teachers themselves, such as projects, product design, do-live learning and so on. It turned out that he felt enough. The participants think that they are mostly qualified in rule management and rule implementation. According to classroom teachers, the social capital of a school consists of the characteristics of the stakeholders in the school, the activities carried out in the school and the characteristics of the school. Participants had positive emotions due to their parents' characteristics and school environment, while parents and students had negative emotions due to their characteristics. Seminars, group meetings and quiz competitions were the main contributions of the school to cultural capital. The physical and material conditions of the school, teachers' and systematic characteristics are the obstacles of cultural capital of the school. Since the beginning of the profession, there has been a change in the teaching methods-techniques, classroom management and students' perspectives. The participants think that it is more effective to increase their knowledge and cultural equipment and develop classroom management skills in order to develop their own professional knowledge and skills. Ensuring the social / cultural / academic development of the students has a professional contribution of cultural capital, having high perception and thinking skills, having universal values and so on. The findings were discussed in detail in the discussion and interpretation section and a holistic evaluation of the quantitative and qualitative part was made. Then, suggestions were made to practitioners and researchers. Keywords: Cultural capital, social capital, self-efficacy, classroom teacher, primary school