Examination of class teacher candidates' attitudes towards the game and physical activities course and the general perceptions of the teaching profession

The aim of this study is to examine the attitudes of teacher candidates studying in the Department of Primary Education towards the game and physical activities course and their perceptions of general competence in the teaching profession. For this purpose, a cross-sectional research model was used, and the 3rd and 4th grade students of the Classroom Teaching Department of 6 universities, namely Amasya University, Bülent Ecevit University, Giresun University, 19 Mayıs University, Ordu University and Gaziosmanpaşa University, were personally visited and volunteered. The sample of the study consists of 532 primary school teacher candidates, 402 female and 130 male. Sociodemographic information form, Attitude Scale Towards Game and Physical Activities Lesson of pre-service classroom teachers developed by Hazar and Tekkurşun Demir, and General Efficiency Perception Scale of Teaching Profession towards Primary School Teacher Candidates developed by Öztürk were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics were used to provide information about the sociodemographic characteristics of prospective classroom teachers. In the analysis of variables such as age, gender, grade level, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Welch t test or Welch F test were used in cases where the homogeneity of variances assumption could not be met. As a result of the research, female candidates' perception of general efficacy in teaching profession is higher than male candidates, pre-service teachers who find themselves sufficient for the game and physical activities lesson have higher attitudes towards the game and physical activities lesson, there is no difference in their perceptions of general competence in the teaching profession. While the attitudes of the candidates who think that it will be sufficient for the game and physical activities lesson are higher, the teaching profession does not differ in their perception of general proficiency, It does not differ according to the gender of the teacher candidates who regularly do sports, Those who find themselves sufficient for the game and physical activities lesson, regularly do sports and have high general proficiency pre-service teachers have positive attitudes towards the game and physical activities lesson. In addition, the attitudes of the pre-service teachers towards the game and physical activities lesson and their perceptions of general proficiency in the teaching profession do not differ according to the grade level, the education level of the parents, the status of someone working as a teacher in the family or retiring from this profession, finding the course sufficient, and doing sports in the past. .