An investigation of the validity and reliability of the oral exams applied in teacher appointments according to views of teachers

The aim of this study is to examine the reliability and validity of the oral exams that teacher candidates should take after KPSS according to views of teachers and teacher candidates who have taken the oral exam at least once. The descriptive research design, which is one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the study. In addition, causal comparative research and correlational research designs, which are relational screening models were also used in line with sub-problems. In the research, criterion sampling and convenience sampling methods were used. The participants of the research consist of teachers appointed by oral exam, graduate teachers and graduate teacher candidates. The data were collected by applying the "validity and reliability scale of the teaching oral exam" developed by the researcher and his advisor via Google Forms and analyzed by IBM SPSS Statistics 25 program. Descriptive statistical analysis, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test and Spearman's rho analysis were used in the analyses. As a result of the analyzes, it was revealed that the participants thought that the validity of the oral exam was low in general while they thought that the reliability was at a medium level. While it was concluded that there is a statistically significant difference close to the medium effect size between the opinions of the appointed and unappointed teachers regarding the validity of the oral exams, a statistically significant difference in small effect size was found between their views on reliability. Compared to the unassigned participants, the teachers who were appointed by the oral examination thought that the oral examinations were relatively more valid and reliable. It was concluded that the opinions of teachers working in public and private schools about the validity of oral exams differed statistically, close to the medium effect size. In addition, it was concluded that the opinions of teachers working in a public school and not working in any educational institution on validity differed statistically at a value close to the medium effect size. Moreover, it was concluded that there is a statistically significant difference in the small effect size of the opinions of the teachers working in private schools regarding the reliability of the exam, between the opinions of both the teachers working in the public school and the teachers who do not work in any educational institution. According to these significant differences, when compared to teachers working in private schools and not working in any educational institution, teachers working in public schools think that oral exams are relatively more valid. Furthermore, when compared to teachers working in private schools, teachers working in public schools and teacher candidates who do not work in any educational institution think that oral exams are relatively more reliable. While it was concluded that there was a negative and significant relationship between the number of oral exams and the participants' thoughts on the validity of the interviews, it was revealed that there is no relationship between the number of taking the oral exam and the opinions of the participants about the reliability of the interviews. Finally, it was revealed that there was no significant difference between the opinions of the participants on the validity of the oral exams according to their branches. On the other hand, a statistically significant difference, close to medium effect size, was found between the opinions of teachers and prospective teachers from the technical and vocational education branch category regarding the reliability of the oral exams and the opinions of the teachers and prospective teachers from the social sciences education branch category on the reliability. The same significant difference was found between the opinions of the participants in the technical and vocational education branch category regarding the reliability of the oral exams and the opinions of the participants in the Turkish and foreign language education branch category on the reliability. According to these significant differences, it can be said that when compared to the participants from the technical and vocational education branches, the participants from the field of Turkish and foreign language and social sciences education find the reliability of the oral exams relatively higher. Lastly, it was revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between the participants' views on the validity and reliability of the oral exams according to their gender.