The relationship of the lifelong learning tendencies of teachers with their self - confidence about their vocational proficiency

The purpose of this study is to reveal the interrelation between the lifelong learning tendencies of teachers and their self-confidences of vocational proficiency by analyzing them in terms of some variables. For this purpose, one of the scanning models to reveal the current results, the relational scanning design, was used as the research design. The 362 teachers (n=362) working in the center of Hakkari province and in the center of Yüksekova town (of Hakkari) in 2013-2014 school year took part in the current study. The "Lifelong Learning Tendencies Index" was used to find the teachers' lifelong learning tendencies. The Cronbach alpha reliability parameter of the index was found as 0.92. To reveal the teachers' self-confidence of vocational proficiency the "Teacher Proficiency Self-confidence Index" was used. The Cronbach alpha reliability parameter of the index was found as 0.95. In the data collection process the teachers were informed about the study by going to their schools and the data for the indexes was obtained from the teachers who wish to participate. In all of the research data obtained, the arithmetical medium and standard deviation were used as descriptive statistic. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H tests, the non-parametrical ones were used in the lifelong learning tendencies analysis. For the analysis of teachers' self-confidence of vocational proficiency, the t-Test, one of the parametrical tests was used within the non-parametrical Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H tests. To reveal the connection between the lifelong learning tendency and the self-confidence of teachers about their vocational proficiency, the spearman analysis of correlation was applied. The lifelong learning tendency of teachers is at a high level according to the study results. While finding meaningful differences about the variables of sex, the state of loving the profession, and the frequency of reading books were found, no meaningful differences about the variables of the age, experience, branch, and father and mother education level could be reached. However, the self-confidence levels of the teachers about their vocational proficiency are quite enough. Meaningful differences were found in teachers' self-confidence about their vocational proficiency and its subdivisions according to their state of loving their profession. Furthermore, a meaningful difference in favor of the primary-school teachers in the student participation dimension, which is one of the subdivisions of the scale in the branch variable, was found. No meaningful difference according to the variables of sex, age, experience, frequency of reading books, and father and mother education levels could be seen. A positive correlation between the teachers' lifelong learning tendencies and their vocational proficiency perceptions was determined.