Examining the relationship between Turkish teachers' attitudes and emotional distance towards Syrian students

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between Turkish teachers' attitudes towards Syrian students and their emotional distance. The sample of the study consists of 200 Turkish teachers working in Gaziantep MoNE. Of the teachers participating in the study, 107 were female and 93 were male. In the research, two different scales, 'Emotional Distance Scale towards the Other' and 'Refugee Student Attitude Scale' were used as data collection tools, and the survey data collected face-to-face were transferred to the Excel programme and then analysed in the SPSS 23 programme. In this study, relational survey model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used. According to the results obtained, it was concluded that Turkish teachers' attitudes towards Syrian students were positive. Among the attitudes, the highest score was found to be in the communication dimension with X=3.17 and the lowest score was found to be in the adaptation dimension with X=2.45. When the emotional distance of Turkish teachers towards Syrian students was evaluated, it was concluded that they mostly felt less emotional distance in different areas. Among the emotional distance areas, the highest score was found to be in the dimension of emotional distance towards Syrians in the private sphere with X=7.50, and the lowest score was in the dimension of emotional distance towards Syrians in the public sphere with X=-1.50. It was concluded that the relationship between Turkish teachers' attitudes towards Syrian students and their emotional distance was positive and favourable.