The views of administrators, teachers and students concerning applicaton of rotating class system in the secondary stage primary school education: The sample of Malatya and Elazığ

The main purpose of the study is to evaluate the Rotating Class System application in the secondary stage of elementary schools by taking the opinions of the administrators, teachers and students concerning it. In the study, mix method, in which quantitative and qualitative methods are used, was used. In the quantitative dimension of the study, descriptive survey model and causal comparison model, which is a relational survey method, were used. In the qualitative dimension of the study case study design was used.The study consists of administrators, teachers and students in the secondary stage of 7 state elementary schools and 3 private elementary schools of National Education Ministry in the city centers of Malatya and Elazığ during 2011 ? 2012 School Year. It was found that Rotating Class System was applied in 6 state elementary schools and 1 private elementary school within the municipal boundaries of the city of Malatya. In Elazığ one state elementary school and two private elementary schools applied the system. Thus the study was carried out in 10 schools in Elazığ and Malatya, seven of which are state schools and three of which are private schools. Within the scope of the study, interviews were conducted with 12 administrators and questionnaires were applied to 113 teachers and 2221 students. In one of the mentioned schools, (Malatya-Mehmet Emin Bitlis Elementary School) as teachers did not want to fill in the questionnaires, teacher questionnaires were applied in the remaining 9 schools Student questionnaires were conducted in all schools. Interviews with administrators could be carried out in 8 schools as the other two administrators did not want to have interviews.The data of the study were collected by both quantitative and qualitative data collection means. Semi-structured interview form to get the opinions of administrators related to Rotating Class System was developed so as to collect the qualitative data. Questionnaires developed by the researcher were applied for taking the opinions of the teachers and the students related to Rotating Class System so as to collect the quantitative data.The data collected in the research were evaluated with packaged software. In the analysis of the data, parametric statistical methods were preferred. Descriptive statistics in parallel with sub-problems of the research (mean and Standard deviation) were used. In causal comparison analysis, t test, One way ANOVA, were used for independent groups and Scheffe test was used as Post Hoc. In the analysis of the data, for each item the frequency, arithmetic average, standard deviation of the opinions of teachers and students were shown as tables. For teachers; sex, professional seniority, the type of school, education type for state school teachers (normal-dual), whether they attended an in service training course about Rotating Class System or not were examined. For Students; Sex, Class level, school type, education type for state schools (normal- dual) any significant difference related to Rotating Class System were examined. Two-group variables such as sex and type of school were examined with t-test and three-group variables such as class level of the students and occupational seniority of the teachers were examined through one way ANOVA. In order to determine the difference range, Scheffe test was used. In the analysis of quantitative data significance level was designated as p 0.05. Qualitative data obtained with interview method were subjected to descriptive analysis and content analysis. Some photos were taken by the researcher at the schools that apply Rotational Class System and these photos were used in the suitable parts of the study.From this research, which aims at getting the opinions of the administrators, teachers and students concerning Rotating Class System in secondary levels of elementary schools, we can say that according to the findings of quantitative part, generally teachers have more positive opinions related to Rotating Class System but students generally have negative opinions about it. Besides, the students in state schools have less contentment related to Rotating Class System than students of private schools.According to the findings obtained from qualitative dimension of the research, when the opinions of the administrators are taken into consideration, it can be said that the administrators of private schools have more positive attitudes than those of state schools. It has also been noted that some state school administrators want to abandon Rotating Class System.For private school students, having lockers in the corridors takes away the difficulty of carrying the bags from one classroom to another all day. Additionally education being full day and with small number of students is another advantage of Rotating Class System in private schools. Various suggestions were made on the basis of the findings of research.Key Words: Rotating Class System, Educational Environments, Primary Schools