Examining the attitudes of teachers working in secondary schools towards distance education

In this study, it was aimed to examine the attitudes of teachers working in secondary schools towards distance education. In the study, the attitudes of secondary school teachers towards distance education were discussed during the Covid 19 period. The study group of the research consists of 408 (female: 242, male: 166) teachers working in secondary schools in the Pendik district of Istanbul in the 2020-2021 academic year. In the research, demographic data were collected with the "Structured Interview Form" developed by the researcher. Data on the attitudes of teachers working in secondary schools towards distance education were collected with the "Attitude Scale towards Distance Education" developed by Ağır (2007). The scale has two sub-dimensions (advantages of distance education, limitations of distance education). Data collected from secondary school teachers were analyzed using the SPSS statistical program. In addition, statistical techniques percentage, frequency, t-test, Kruskall-Wallis, One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and chi-square were used for the analysis of sub-problems. According to the findings of the study, the average score of the scale regarding the attitudes of secondary school teachers towards distance education was found to be at a moderate level with 55.2. At the same time, in the attitudes of secondary school teachers towards distance education; It was seen that there was no statistically significant difference according to the variables of gender, education level, branch, school type and technology use skills. However, in the sub-dimension of limitations of professional seniority, it was observed that the average of secondary school teachers with 16-20 years of seniority was significantly higher than those of secondary school teachers with 6-10 years of seniority. A significant difference was also found between the attitude towards distance education and the time spent by secondary school teachers on the Internet. As a result of the research, in-service training can be provided for secondary school teachers to use current technologies effectively so that they can manage distance education more professionally. School administrators can identify students who have problems in accessing distance education and use the school's facilities to include these students in the distance education process. Keywords: Distance education, distance education in the Covid-19 period, attitude towards distance education