The evaluation of the perception of critical pedagogy in some variables

The aim of this research was to evaluate the candidate classroom teachers, classroom teachers and graduates of village institutes by putting out their participation level to the principles of critical pedagogy. In imparting recently frequently emphasized critical thinking skills, the qualifications and the competence of the teachers were seen important in raising individuals having creative thinking and the transformation of society. In this sense, as being the subject of education, teachers are also expected to have a critical attitude towards the education system. In this study, it was intended to provide a contribution to the current criticism consciousness through critical pedagogy. However, critical pedagogy roots in the critical theory, is guiding us on this issue. The study was designed in the descriptive survey model, one of the screening models of the quantitative research methods. The study sample included classroom teacher candidates, classroom teachers and graduates of Village Institute. Accordingly, the samples were the 3rd and 4th grade students have been studying in the Department of Primary Education in 2014-2015 academic year at Firat University, Trakya University, Ege University, Sinop University and Ankara University for the classroom teacher candidates; the classroom teachers working in the schools bound up with the district national education directorate of Buca, Bornova, Konak and Karşıyaka in İzmir Province for teachers; the accessible graduates throughout Turkey for graduates of Village Institute. The data were collected by the Personal Information Form prepared by the researcher and the Principles of Critical Pedagogy Scale developed by Yilmaz (2009). The results of the study revealed that the participation of all the participants to the Education System and School Function sub-dimensions and the Critical Pedagogy Policy have been found at middle level while the participation in the Liberation dimensions was at high levels. Among the candidate classroom teachers, classroom teachers and graduates of village institutes, significant differences were found in favor of Candidate classroom teachers and graduates of village institutes. In addition, among the candidate classroom teachers, significant differences have been found in their views about gender, family income levels, parental education levels, the average number of books reading in a year, monthly cultural activities participation, conference-symposium attendance, book- articles writing, opinions towards critical thinking skills gained by students in schools and current primary school education system. There were also significant differences found among classroom teachers according to the gender, their views about gaining critical thinking skills to students in the school and the existing primary school education system.