The difference between the dream and reality: The early years of teaching profession

The purpose of this dissertation study is to examine in detail the experiences of teachers, who teach at schools within the structure of Ministry of National Education, concerning the early years of teaching, to identify the problems that they have been encountering in the early years of teaching and to offer solutions to the problems in question. This dissertation study was carried out via qualitative research method. In line with this purpose, the answers have been sought to be received to the questions "What is reality?", "What is the definition of the concept of dream?", "What is teaching profession?", "What are the problems experienced by teachers in the early years of teaching?" and "What should be done to solve the problems experienced in the early years of teaching?". The sample group of this study consists of 12 in-service teachers teaching at different school types and specialized in different fields of study in Amasya province-wide. The data have been obtained by means of a semi-structured interview method. Teachers have expressed that according to them, the concept of reality means tangible, truth, life experiences and hitches. They have defined the concept of dream as fancy, target and future-oriented plans. They have defined the teaching profession as the one who is teaching, leader, exemplary person and master, respectively. It has been observed that the problems experienced in the early years of teaching profession are financial conditions, the attitudes and sanctions of school administration, decrease in social reputation, decline in showing respect to a teacher, lack of physical facilities, that the university education does not reflect the real-life teaching, heavy responsibility and lack of professional satisfaction. Concerning the things that should be done to solve the problems experienced by teachers in the early years of teaching, teachers have listed that financial concerns should be removed, professional reputation (status) should be improved, teachers should be supported, top-level authorities and school administration should be impartial, fair and understanding, law on teaching profession should be prepared again, parents of students should be provided with training, schools should have physical facilities, social-cultural opportunities should be presented to teachers, system should be changed and reward system should be improved. In line with the findings obtained, the researcher has made the following recommendations: financial concerns of teachers should be removed, professional reputation (status) of teaching profession should be increased, teachers should be supported and appreciated by Ministry of National Education, school administration and parents of students, school administration should be impartial, fair and understanding, existing law on teaching profession should be prepared over again and personal rights of teachers should be improved, reward system should be changed on an equitable basis, teachers should be provided with social-cultural opportunities (like Value Added Tax free books, free theatre, cinema tickets etc.) in order to improve themselves, parents of students should be provided with awareness raising trainings, physical facilities (laboratories, heating system, doors, music class, painting studio, sports facility) should be installed at schools, education at universities should reflect the real-life teaching at schools, existing education system should be changed by common consent via asking the teachers' opinions, as well.