An investigation of the arts and crafts training at undergraduate level comparatively in Kazakhstan and Turkey

In this research, it was aimed to investigate arts and crafts training and the physical possibilities of the workshops at undergraduate level comparatively in Kazakhstan and Turkey. The sample group of the research consisted of totally 188 students who were under education in the Department of Arts and Crafts Training of Fine Arts Training Department in Erzincan University and the Visual Art and Drawing Department of Art, Culture and Sports Institute in Abay Kazak National Pedagogical University. The research was conducted in 2016-2017 training year. The qualitative and quantitative research methods and techniques were used together in this study. The data of the research were analysed at .05 meaning level with the SPSS 22 program. The scale related to the physical equipment of the workshops was used in the quantitative data of the study. In the study, the frequency analysis was applied for the percentage distribution of the answers given by the students from Turkey and Kazakhstan and the Independent Samplings t-test to compare their average scores from the scales. The history, program and process of the trainings for pre-service visual arts teachers were compared at the level of undergraduate in Kazakhstan and Turkey in the research. It was observed in the comparison that there were some differences specifically in the settlement of the art training institutions, but the program and process had similarities. In the last section, in which the physical environments of the painting workshops were compared, it was found out that, compared with the Turkish students, the Kazakh students had thoughts that were more positive in the points such as the physical facilities (technical equipment, cleaning facilities, light adequacy, etc.) and beliefs that they would have enough professional competence after graduation. Moreover, that the Turkish students had thoughts that were more positive compared with the Kazakh ones in the topics such as the contribution of cultural courses to the professional knowledge, cleaning facilities in the workshops, the opportunities to study except for the course time were among the findings. In addition, it is pleasing to report that students from both of the countries claimed that they had adequate skills in drawing practice techniques and that they had received training in the direction of their existing skills, leading to creativity. When the differences between the average scores of the two countries were examined, it was reached to the conclusion that the physical environment satisfaction of Kazakh students was meaningfully higher than those of the Turkish ones. Keywords: Kazakhstan, Turkey, Fine Arts Training, Arts and Crafts Training