Evaluation of teaching profession courses in terms of teacher candidates? competencies regarding the learning and teaching process

Qualifications of teachers are regarded as an important factor that directly influences the quality of the education system in a country. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the quality of teacher training in order to continue development and improvement studies. In this way, teacher candidates could effectively gain the professional competencies in the pre-service teacher training process. The present study was designed based on this necessity.The main aim of the study was to evaluate the field knowledge and teaching profession knowledge courses found in teacher training programs in terms of teacher candidates? competencies regarding the learning and teaching process for teacher candidates. For this aim, among the Teaching Profession General Competencies, both the competencies regarding the learning-teaching process and the performance indicators found under these competencies were determined. Following this, the study tried to examine in depth how these indicators reflect upon the content and objectives of the Teaching Profession Knowledge (TPK) courses, to what extent these TPK courses help gain these performance indicators from the perspectives of faculty members and teacher candidates and to what extent teacher candidates use these performance indicators in teaching-related applications. As the purpose was to judge the quality and effectiveness of TPK courses, the study was conducted with the qualitative research method as a case study for evaluation purpose.The study was carried out with eight faculty members from the Department of Educational Sciences in the Education Faculty of Anadolu University and with 14 teacher candidates from seven different teaching programs. The research data were collected via examination of documents based on comparison of the content and objectives of TPK courses with the related performance indicators, structured and semi-structured interviews held with the faculty members, semi-structured interviews held with the teacher candidates, observations of teaching of the lessons within the scope of the Teaching Application Course and via the diaries of the researcher and of the teacher candidates. As for the analysis of the research data, descriptive analysis was conducted for the document examination and for the observation data, and for the interview data, the inductive analysis method was applied. Findings obtained from the data were interpreted depending on the aim of the study.As a result of the study, it was seen that the objectives and content of TPK courses covered the performance indicators regarding the learning and teaching process. The findings obtained based on the faculty members? views were consistent in general with the findings obtained via document analysis. However, it was also seen that there were problems experienced in helping gain the performance indicators regarding such subjects as plan types, organization of out-of-class activities, use of tools and especially regarding measurement and evaluation. In addition, it was found out depending on the faculty members? views about the teaching of TPK courses that the courses were taught rather on theoretical basis via direct instruction without the use of different methods, techniques or materials; that a great deal of effort was shown to achieve student participation yet with little efficiency; that not much effective relationship was established between the profession of teaching and the subjects taught within the scope of the courses of other TPK courses; and that neither the faculty members nor the teacher candidates were able to fully perform their responsibilities either due to the work-load of the faculty members and the high number of the students or due to the fact that the teacher candidates found the courses unnecessary or unimportant. In addition, though teacher candidates who think that TPK courses contributed much to their professional development were greater in number some of the teacher candidates? views revealed that they did not give much importance to such courses when compared to the field courses especially during the time they took these courses; and that they criticized the theoretical teaching of the courses and the lack of association to be established between their profession and what they learnt. Among the TPK courses, those thought to make the biggest contribution were found to be the courses of Development and Learning (Educational Psychology) and Instructional Technologies and Material Development. It was also found out that this situation was due to the establishment of relationship between these courses and real life and due to the applications to be carried out within the scope of the courses. When the extent to which the teacher candidates had the performance indicators regarding the learning and teaching process was examined, it was seen that they gained almost half of the associated performance indicators. It was also found out that the extent to which the teacher candidates had the performance indicators regarding the application of the instructional materials was higher than the others; that they lacked the performance indicators regarding the planning of instructional activities, especially those related to the out-of-class activities and to the curriculum; that they had few of the performance indicators regarding the evaluation of the instructional activities; however they needed to develop these performance indicators.