Investigation of secondary education teachers' technological formation competencies levels in terms of various variables in the scope of technology supported teacher development (Van province example)

With the acceleration of technological developments in the 20th century, technological tools have become a spiral that continues to grow in both our social and individual lives. It is a prerequisite for the development of technological literacy for the correct and healthy use of technology in education and training processes. The teaching process, which started with blackboards and chalk in schools, has been changing and developing until today with interactive boards and tablets. At this point, getting the highest level of efficiency from technology and integrating it into the teaching process correctly is one of the most important skills that teachers should acquire in the 21st century world. Being able to integrate technological developments and actual innovations in the teaching process according to the needs of the students at the right time and with the right methods forms the basis of technopedagogical skills. It should not be forgotten that innovative technologies come after innovative ideas. The only educational element that can open new ideas and new horizons for students is the teacher. In this context, it is also important to determine the technological formation proficiency levels of teachers. In this study, it was tried to examine the technological formation proficiency levels of the teachers working at the secondary education level in terms of variables such as gender, age, branch, seniority and education level. This research, which used descriptive survey design, one of the quantitative research methods, was carried out on 399 teachers working in secondary education in the Central Districts of Van. Technological Formation Scale developed by Erdoğmuş et al. (2021) and Demographic Information Form developed by the researcher were used as data collection tools in the research. A few of the findings and results obtained from the research data are given below. According to the results of the research, teachers' technological formation levels were moderate in content development, interactive object development sub-dimensions; In the sub-dimensions of problem solving and creativity, it was found to be at a good level and there was no significant difference in terms of gender. In terms of the age of the teachers, it has been concluded that the younger teachers have higher technological formation proficiency. In the branch factor, significant results were found in favor of Information Technologies, Mathematics and Science (Physics, Chemistry and Biology) teachers, while History, Turkish Language and Literature, Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge teachers had the lowest qualifications. According to the professional seniority of the teachers, it was concluded that the technological formation competencies were inversely proportional to the time spent in the profession, and there was a decrease in the technological adaptation ability depending on age in the process spent in the profession. Teachers' education levels make a significant difference in terms of their technological formation competencies. It has been revealed that teachers with undergraduate and graduate education levels have higher averages. In the context of the results of this research, it is understood from the averages obtained that the technological formation competence and the knowledge and skills required for this competence are not fully adopted by the teachers. From this point of view, educational content should be enriched with technological tools and equipment, and technological literacy and technological formation in-service training seminars and informative activities should be organized for all teachers.