The relationship between teaching experience and vocational identity of doctoral students working as an instructor

The aim of this study is to examine the relationships between demographic characteristics, teaching experiences, teaching self-efficacy beliefs, sources of teacher self-efficacy and vocational identities of doctoral students working as research assistants or lecturers, and to examine their views and perceptions about the teaching process. The mixed method approach was adopted in the study. In order to support the quantitative data and explain it in more depth, the Exploratory Sequential Design, which also includes the qualitative data, was used. The participants of the research were doctoral students working as either a research assistant or lecturer at a state university in the Central Black Sea Region and volunteering to participate in the study. Data was collected by using Personal Information Form, Vocational Identity Scale (Klotz, Billett and Winther, 2014), Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (Çapa, Çakıroğlu and Sarıkaya, 2005), Sources of Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale (Çapa-Aydın, Uzuntiryaki-Kondakçı, Temli and Tarkın, 2013) and Semi-structured Interview Form. Multiple Linear Regression and Multiple Hierarchical Regression Analyses were carried out to analyse the data obtained in the quantitative dimension. Content Analysis was used to analyse the data obtained in the qualitative dimension. As a result of the quantitative phase of the study, the vocational identity and teacher self-efficacy of the participants were at high levels and teachers' self-efficacy belief of the participants was formed on the basis of their own teaching experience, learning from the teaching experiences of other colleagues, and using the feedback of the people around them on their teaching. In addition, teaching experience and working as a research assistant or lecturer predicted their vocational identity statistically significantly. The number of semesters they teach predicted their teacher self-efficacy levels statistically significantly, teaching experience and the number of semesters they teach predicted their sources of teacher self-efficacy statistically significantly. When the demographic characteristics of the participants were controlled, teaching experience and their teacher self-efficacy levels predicted their vocational identity levels in a statistically significantly. According to the results of the qualitative phase, the participants stated that being a teacher, their desire to learn and study or their interest in the field of study contributed to their vocational identity development as an academic. On the other hand, the participants stated that the reasons for not feeling like an academic were the task-academic study dilemma, time constraints, excessive course load or family roles. Based on the findings, suggestions were made for doctoral education and research.