Multigrade class teachers and class teachers? opinions about curriculum for primary schools

Education is one of the most significant elements that helps countries develop themselves and determine their states in global spheres. Changes and innovations in education and educational programmes affect this developing process in a possitive way. In the formation of curriculum for pirmary schools, it is essential to get opininons of teachers who are the applicators of the curriculum itself. This research has been made to determine the effectiveness of the change process in primary schools of Turkish educational system by getting opinions of multi-grade class teachers and class teachers.This descriptive research has been applied by 573 class teachers and 300 multi-grade class teachers in Elazığ province. In the research, data were colleted through a Curriculum Evaluation Questionnaire which was formed by the researcher herself. Questionnaire consists of 16 questions. Questions 1-13 are multiple choice questions and most are personal questions. The 14th question consists of 69 graded items about the characteristics of Turkish and Mathematics Curriculums. The 15th question consists of 19 items about stress situations of teachers during the lesson. The 16th quetion is about teachers? opinions and proposals about curriculum.Apart from teachers answered the questionnaire, scale has been applied to 120 multi-grade teachers and 135 class teachers ( 255 in total) in Diyarbakır province for validity and reliability analysis. Coefficients of reliability have been accounted by Cronbach alpha coefficients of reliability and it is found that sclae has a reliability (Cronbach alpha Turkish = 0,985; Cronbach alpha Maths= 0,950). As a result of factor analysis, KMO value of the items about Turkish curriculum is 0,950 and Barlett Test is 17605,330; about stress situation, KMO value of the items is 0,903 and Cronbach alpha coefficients of reliability the items about stress situation is 0,941 and Barlett Test is 3194,292.KMO value of the items about Maths curriculum is 0,941 and Barlett test is 17148,985; about stress situation KMO value of the items about stress situation is 0,937 and Cronbach alpha coefficients of reliability the items is 0,937 and Barlett Test is 3048,339.For the analysis of data, first Homogeneity Test (Levene) has been applied, for homogeneous items one-side variance analysis and heterogeneous items Kruskall Wallis Test have been applied. In situations where significant differences between groups are deternined, to determine the cause of difference Mann Whitney U Test (MWU) has been apllied and for dual comparisons, T-Test for independent groups has been applied. Significance level has been take as p < 0,05. For personal findings, Frequency and percentage values have been used.At the end of this research, it is determined that class teachers have adopted Curriculum for Primary Schools more than multi-grade class teachers and during the application of the curriculum, multi-grade class teachers are have more difficulties than class teachers. According to sex variance, female teachers are more positive about curriculum than male teachers and female teachers have less difficulty in applicating the curriculum. When investigated according to seniority in profession it is found that experineced teachers have adopted Curriculum for Primary Schools more than new-assigned teachers. When opinions of teachers are investigated according to the level of thes trainings? answering the teachers? expectations, teacher whose expectations are not answered or partly answered after the seminar are more positive about the curriculum and have less difficulties in application than tachers whose expectations are answeredIn accordance with these results, to lift effectiveness of curriculum for primary Schools in implementation; teachers, managers and parents should be informed about the programme, programme should have some specific elements of multi-grade claases and it should take local differences into consideration.Key words: Curriculum for Primary Schools, Turkish Curriculum, Mathematics Curriculum, Multigraade Classes, Classes.