Teachers' views on the mathematics teaching program renewed in 2018 (Example of Sakarya province)

The aim of this study is to determine the opinions of teachers about the curriculum of the secondary school mathematics lesson which was renewed in 2018. The research model is structured in the basic qualitative research model. Maximum diversity sampling, which is among the purposeful sampling methods, was used in determining the participants in the study. The study group consisted of 32 mathematics teachers (11 males and 21 females) working in schools of the Ministry of National Education in Adapazari, Erenler and Serdivan districts of Sakarya province. The data were collected by using semi-structured interview form. In the interview form, 5 questions were asked to know personnel information and 7 open-ended questions were asked to gain their opinions about the renewed secondary school mathematics curriculum. The data obtained from the interviews were analyzed by content analysis method. According to the results of the interview, it was seen that most of the teachers investigate and have knowledge of the new mathematics curriculum. However, the most teachers have not been informed, and the teachers who were informed were found informing insufficient. According to the analysis of the data related to the four elements of the program in order to know the teachers' views about the renewed secondary school mathematics curriculum, the majority of the teachers who participated in the study welcomed the reduction of the gains and the content, especially it allowed to learn more in depth in a long time. In addition, the majority of the teachers participating in the study are aware of the effective learning techniques and alternative assessment techniques mentioned in the renewed program and most of them implement these techniques in their classrooms. Nevertheless, the most important reason for teachers who cannot use the techniques is that the classes are crowded and the time is insufficient. Teachers taking part in the research consider as much as possible the considerations written in the program regarding the implementation of the program. While the majority of the teachers stated that they have had problems in the implementation of the program, some of these teachers stated that the problem stems from the program and some other factors cause problems. As a result, the teachers who participated in the research have wanted to change many things about the program. It is possible to see that all of the requests are stated with the aim of developing students' positive attitude towards mathematics course, more effective and efficient processing of the course and better learning.