Level of anxiety of science teachers waiting for their assignment

This study aims to examine the anxieties experienced by science teachers waiting for their assignment for the Government Employee Selection Examination (GESE), not to be assigned, and laboratory work and teaching. For this purpose, a quantitative study based on the descriptive survey model was conducted. Data were gathered for the study using the "Participant Information Form", "GESE Exam Anxiety Scale", "Not Assignment Anxiety Scale for Pre-Service Teachers" and "Science Teachers' Anxiety Scale for Laboratory Work and Teaching". A total of 297 science teachers (262 women and 35 men) who were preparing for the 2022 GESE from 62 different institutions in Türkiye provided data for the study via Google Forms. The mean age of the participants was calculated as 25.21 (SD = 3.12). As for data analyses, descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, minimum value, maximum value) were calculated in order to determine the level of participants' anxieties for GESE, not to be assigned, and laboratory work and teaching. Then, three separate multivariate analyses of variance (Manova) were performed to see whether the variables under consideration varied according to gender. Additionally, the information gathered from the open-ended questions in the Participant Information Form was examined using the category analysis technique, one of the qualitative data analysis methods, to complement the quantitative data. The participants' answers were coded by the researcher as a group of words and reported under themes based on semantic integrity. Results of descriptive statistics showed that on dimensions of the GESE Exam Anxiety Scale, science teachers waiting assignment had high levels of "general anxiety" and " anxiety for exam preparation", and moderate levels of "concerns about how you see yourself and how others see you" and "concerns about the future". In terms of gender variable, no significant difference was observed. As for the Not Assignment Anxiety Scale for Pre-Service Teachers, participants possessed a very high level of anxiety on the "fear of not being assigned" dimension and a high-level anxiety on the "personal perceptions" dimension. No significant difference was observed in the participants' anxieties for not to be assigned in terms of gender variable. In the dimensions of the Science Teachers' Anxiety Scale for Laboratory Work and Teaching, participants' "anxieties for field (science and laboratory) proficiency" were found to be very high, and "anxieties for communication" and "anxieties for classroom management" were found to be high. It was determined that there was no significant difference in the dimensions according to the gender variable. According to the qualitative data analyses, the participants thought that there was a discrepancy between the content of the course they had taken at the faculty of education and the GESE questions. They gave several reasons for this, including that the courses at the faculty of education were not focused on the GESE, the courses were taught inefficiently, and the exam was more in-depth than the course material. Finally, while the participants acknowledged that the GESE did not guarantee the assignment of qualified teachers, they made recommendations that included allocating faculty quotas based on teacher needs of the Ministry of Education, raising the assignment quotas, assigning teachers based on their exemplary lectures (performances) in a real classroom setting, hiring teachers exam-based is not a good practice, ending substitute teaching practice, and ending the interview process. This study showed that the existing teacher employment model is one that makes science teachers more anxious, and that a new model is required to improve teacher employment.