The contribution of master's theses in the field of education to practice in the national education system

This research is a qualitative case study that aims to share the master's theses in the field of education, prepared by teachers and school principals who have completed their master's degree with thesis, with teachers and school principals, and thus to understand their contribution to practice. Among 170 teachers and school principals who worked in public secondary schools in Düzce and graduated with a master's degree with a thesis between 2002 and 2022, eight teachers and two school principals, selected by the criterion sampling method, shared their theses by making a presentation to the teachers and school principals. Turkish, science, mathematics teachers and school principals working in public secondary schools in the 2022-2023 academic year were invited to the thesis presentation within the framework of the cooperation with the Provincial Directorate of National Education. The data was collected face to face through a semi-structured interview form containing open-ended questions from 20 participants who participated in thesis presentations and were determined by the maximum diversity sampling method. The research questions consist of four questions prepared in accordance with the research problem, taking into account the conceptual framework and in line with the recommendations of the expert faculty member. The data obtained from the interviews were collected under codes and themes obtained by subjecting them to content analysis. In the light of the data obtained within the scope of the research questions, it is seen that teachers and school principals have expectations regarding motivation, attitude development and practice from the thesis presentations; Thesis presentations contribute to teachers' understanding and course process, and to school principals' management approach and management processes; It was concluded that teachers wanted thesis studies to be carried out in the fields of practice and due diligence, while school principals wanted thesis studies to be carried out in the field of education and supervision. In addition, teachers and school principals stated that the reasons why master's theses could not meet with practitioners were due to the participants, the theses, universities and the Ministry of Education. In line with the results obtained from this study, suggestions were made to institutions, practitioners and researchers to ensure that master's theses contribute to practice and to remove the obstacles to this situation.