Comparison of the status of the teaching profession in Turkey and Kazakhstan (example of Ankara and Nur-Sultan provinces)

The purpose of this research is to compare the social status of teachers in Turkey and Kazakhstan with the views of teachers and prospective teacher. The sample of the research consists of teachers working in Ankara and Nur-Sultan provinces, the capital cities of Turkey and Kazakhstan; and prospective teacher from Gazi University Faculty of Education and education departments of Eurasia Natioanl University in the same settlements. The research was designed according to the mixed model in which quantitative and qualitative methods are used together. For the purpose of collecting quantitative data, the scale titled "Perception Scale for the Status of the Teaching Profession" was developed and the same scale was translated into Kazakh language. The aim of the scale is to determine the views of teachers and prospective teachers on the status of the teaching profession. In order to collect qualitative data, an interview form titled "Opinions on the Status of the Teaching Profession" was prepared and the same interview questions were translated into Kazakh. Within the scope of the research, the sample size determined for both countries 1) the scale development phase consisted total 319 participants, including teachers and teacher prospective for Turkey, 2) Quantitative data collection tool was applied to 950 people, including 606 teachers and 344 prospective teacher for Turkey, and total of 968 people, including 619 teachers and 354 prospective teachers, participated in the main application in Kazakhstan, with different samples during the implementation process. As a result of the analysis of the quantitative data obtained in the research, it has been determined that the status of the teaching profession is at a good level according to the perceptions of teachers and teacher prospective in Turkey and Kazakhstan. When the views of the teachers and prospective teachers in Turkey on the status of the teaching profession were compared, it was seen that the views of the prospective teachers on the status of the teaching profession were more positive. When it was compared the views of teachers in Turkey and teachers in Kazakhstan on the status of the teaching profession, it was concluded that the views of teachers in Turkey were more positive than Kazakhstani teachers. Similarly, when the views of prospective teachers in Turkey and Kazakhstan regarding the status of the teaching profession were compared, it was concluded that the opinions of prospective teachers in Turkey were more positive. The qualitative part of the study, based on the phenomenology pattern, teachers' views on the status of the teaching profession were determined. In this context, the interview group consisted of a total of 28 participants, 14 teachers working in Ankara and 14 teachers working in Nur-Sultan. According to the qualitative findings of the study, it was remarkable that some of the participating teachers in Ankara compared their views on the status of the teaching profession with the status of teaching in the past. According to the opinions of the participants, the current status of teaching is lower than in the past, and it has been determined that teachers generally evaluate the status of their profession as low. At the same time, participants stated that factors influencing social status are excessive workload, teacher incompetence, low teacher salaries, extra work, economic dissatisfaction, problems in teacher training and teacher appointments.Teachers working in the province of Nur-Sultan, on the contrary, said that the status of teaching today is better than in the past. In addition, the participants said that the status of the teaching profession started to rise with the approval of the "Teacher Status Law". However, some of the participants still expressed the status of the teaching profession is still low. At the same time it has been identified the factors affecting the social status of teaching profession, according to teachers views; it is excessive workload, incompetence of teachers, teacher salaries, economic dissatisfaction, problems teacher training system. In general, as a result of the analysis, it was observed that both Turkey and Kazakhstan participants expressed their suggestions for raising the status of their profession on the basis of factors affecting the status.