The relationship between classroom teachers' perceptions of commitment to teaching profession and their fidelity to teaching program

The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between classroom teachers' perceptions of commitment to the teaching profession and their perceptions of fidelity to the curriculum. The relational research model was used in the research. The universe of the research consists of 420 classroom teachers working in state primary schools in the central district of Bolu in the academic year of 2020-2021. A total of 318 classroom teachers from 32 different primary schools participated in the study. Personal information form, " Professional Commitment towards Teaching Scale " and " Curriculum Fidelity Scale" were used as data collection tools. The scales used in the research were applied to teachers online due to the global pandemic. Analyzes of the research data were made using the SPSS 20.0 package program. Descriptive statistics such as mean, percentage, standard deviation, frequency, and correlation were used in the analysis of the data. Cronbach Alpha coefficients were calculated for the reliability analysis of the scales, and Confirmatory Factor Analysis was performed to obtain validity proofs. T-test, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskall-Wallis test were used to determine the differentiation status according to demographic variables. The relationship between the two scale scores was calculated with the Sperman Rho Correlation Coefficient. As a result of the research, the perception of commitment to the teaching profession of classroom teachers was found to be "high", and their perception of fidelity to the curriculum was found to be at a "very high" level. When the professional commitment of classroom teachers was examined according to different variables, it was concluded that there was no differentiation according to the gender variable. According to the age variable, a differentiation was found in the professional value sub-dimension of the scale of commitment to the teaching profession. It was concluded that there was no difference in the teachers' perceptions regarding the whole scale of commitment to the teaching profession and all its sub-dimensions according to the professional seniority variable. Classroom teachers' perceptions of fidelity to the curriculum in the study showed no difference according to gender, age, professional seniority variable. It was concluded that there is a moderate positive relationship between the classroom teachers' perceptions of commitment to the teaching profession and fidelity to the curriculum. KEYWORDS: Profession, Teaching Profession, Professional Commitment, Fidelity to Curriculum