Investigation of qualifications and attitudes of science teachers against online distance education during the Covid–19 epidemic

The purpose of this study is to investigate the attitudes and competencies of science teachers in lower-secondary schools toward the online distance eduction which was emerged as a result of an unanticipated interruption in face-to-face education during the COVID-19 pandemic. In line with this purpose, it was aimed to determine whether science teachers who teach in lower secondary schools during the Covid-19 outbreak differed in their attitudes and competencies toward online distance education according to various variables. The sample of the study, which was carried out with the screening methodology, consists of 253 science teachers working in public or private institutions in the province of Istanbul. To reach the sample more easily, especially during the pandemic conditions, the sample was formed using the convenience sampling method which is one of the non-random sampling methods. With the demographic form, data on the variables of age, gender, academic background (having an undergraduate degree or graduate degree), graduated faculty (education faculty or not), duration of service in the institution or school, knowledge of distance education before the pandemic, participation in a distance education as a student or teacher before the pandemic, and the proficieny level of computer use were collected. The Attitudes towards Distance Education Scale was used to examine attitudes toward distance education, and the Online Distance Education Teacher Competencies Scale was used to identify online distance teaching teacher competencies. By utilizing the PASW 18.0 package program, the percentages and the frequenceies were computed; and the descriptive results were reported. Moreover, to compare the mean differences between teacher groups independent samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were employed. Following the ANOVA analysis, the Tukey HSD test was used to determine the teacher groups that significantly differed. It was found out that the participants range in age from 22 to 63, and they have moderate level of opinions regarding online distance education. It is evident that the average attitude score of teachers significantly differ according to the graduated faculty and academic background variables. Additionally, it was shown that teachers with graduate degrees scored on average more favorably than those with bachelor degrees. It is also clear that teachers with degrees from the faculty of education perform better on average than those with degrees from faculties other than the faculty of education. On the sub-dimension of the attitude scale titled "Advantages of Online Distance Education," similar findings were obtained. However, the average scores of male teachers are higher than those of female teachers on the attitude scale's sub-dimension entitled "Limitations of Online Distance Education''. Furthermore, it has been shown that compared to teachers with 21 or more service years, science teachers with 1 to 5 service years have a more positive attitude toward distance learning. It is found that teachers' online teaching competencies are at high level. According to the findings obtained from the study, the total scores of online teaching competencies of science teachers did not significantly differ according to the variables of gender, institution, academic background and graduated faculty. Furthermore, the sub-dimensions of the scale which are educational software development, distance education applications, content, instructional planning & implementation, and time did not show significant differences between the teacher groups. Although there was no statistically significant difference in the sub-dimensions of technology, communication, and attitude toward web-based teaching according to the variables of gender, institution, and educational status, it was found that teachers who graduated from the faculty of education had higher average scores than teachers who did not. It can also be noticed that science teachers with 1 to 5 service years had higher average scores than teachers with 21 or more service years in terms of their competencies in online distance education and technology. However, the sub-dimensions which are distant education applications, instructional design and implementation, communication, time, and content did not show any significant differences according to the service duration of the teachers. As a result, it can be said that science teachers with graduate degrees, who have graduated from the college of education, and whose service year is between 1 and 5 years have greater levels of competency and more positive attitudes toward distance education. Key Words: Distance Education, Science Teachers, Attitude, Competency, COVID-19.