Teachers' self-efficacy beliefs in classroom management and their attitudes towards teacher profession in basic education (Rize province example)

The study aims to explore the self-efficacy beliefs in classroom management and the attitudes of the primary education and preschool teachers towards teaching profession. Furthermore, the relationship between the self-efficacy beliefs and the attitudes of the primary education and preschool teachers was examined. In a similar vein, the study attempts to clarify the questions that whether there is a statistically significant difference between the teachers' classroom management self-efficacy beliefs and professional attitudes in terms of gender, years of experience, branches, marital status and the school settlement. A regression analysis was performed in order to find out whether the professional attitudes of the teachers statistically estimate the classroom management self-efficacy beliefs of the teachers. The participants of the study are selected from primary schools and preschool institutions in Rize, and a total of 461 teachers volunteered for the study, 138 of which were preschool teachers and 323 of which were primary school teachers. The data was collected through two scales; "Self-efficacy Beliefs of Kindergarten Teachers Scale" which was developed by Tepe (2011) and "Teachers' Professional Attitudes Scale" which was developed by Çetin (2006). The data was collected in 2014-2015 academic year. The data was analysed with SPSS using the tests of descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA and regression analysis. The results show that there is a statistically significant difference between the genders in terms of the communication skills and planning which was the subscale of teachers' classroom management self-efficacy beliefs. Similarly, the results suggest that there is a statistically significant difference between the branches in terms of the teaching-learning process, parents' participation and planning subscales. However, the results suggest that there is not a statistically significant difference between the results of self-efficacy beliefs of the teachers in terms of experience, school settlement and marital status. The results also indicate that there is a statistically significant difference between the scores of the subscales of attachment and dignity which are classified under the scale of kindergarten and primary school teachers professional attitudes, in terms of branches, and again there is a statistically significant difference between the scores of all the subscales (attachment, dignity and adaptation) in terms of gender. Lastly, there is not a statistically significant difference between the scores of the professional attitudes of the teachers in terms of experience, school settlement and marital status. The study suggests that there is a positive correlational relationship between classroom management self-efficacy beliefs of the primary school and preschool teachers and their attitudes towards teaching profession. In other words, the study indicates that the teachers professional attitudes has a significant effect on their classroom management self-efficacy beliefs. Keywords: Classroom Management Self-Efficacy Beliefs, Preschool Teacher, Primary School Teacher, Classroom Management, Attitudes Toward Teaching Profession.