The relationship between Turkish as a foreign language teacher's professional self-competencies and classroom diversity competencies

It can be said that one of the most important elements that reveal the quality of education is the quality of the teacher. It is possible to state that effective learning and achievement of teaching goals are mostly affected by teacher competencies and skills. It is thought that among the important variables affecting the quality of learning and teaching, teachers' professional self-efficacy and their ability to manage differences in the classroom are also considered. Self-efficacy is the individual's belief in planning, arranging, and executing what he or she needs to achieve a task or goal. When it comes to differences in class, it includes not only ethnic differences, but also gender, religion, language, race, disability. Managing differences in the classroom is defined as being aware of these differences in the classroom, being tolerant, and making students feel close to each other. In this study, it was aimed to examine the relationship between teachers' professional self-efficacy beliefs and their perceptions of their ability to manage differences in the classroom. The research is a relational screening study in quantitative design. The study population consists of classroom and Turkish teachers who work in secondary schools affiliated to Kırşehir Provincial Directorate of National Education in the 2021-2022 academic year and have foreign students in their classes. The sample consists of 238 classroom and Turkish teachers determined by simple random sampling method from this population. The data of the study were collected using the "Personal Information Form", "Self-Efficacy Belief Scale for Teaching Profession" and "Teacher Efficacy Scale for Differences in the Classroom". Data analysis was done using SPSS 25.0 package program. First, it was checked whether the data showed normality distribution and it was seen that it showed normal distribution. Independent groups t-test was performed for variables such as gender, branch and professional experience, and ANOVA test was used for more than two variables. While analyzing the self-efficacy beliefs towards the teaching profession according to gender, branch and professional experience, MANOVA analyzes were performed. Finally, a correlation analysis was conducted between the perceptions of efficacy for differences in the classroom and efficacy beliefs for the teaching profession. It was determined that the professional efficacy belief levels of the teachers were quite sufficient. It was understood that the teachers' teacher efficacy beliefs for the differences in the class were at the level of trust. A positive moderate relationship was determined between teachers' professional self-efficacy beliefs and their perceptions of efficacy towards differences in the classroom. It has been determined that there is a significant difference in favor of classroom teachers according to the branch variable in the professional self-efficacy beliefs of teachers in the competence sub-factor in teacher participation. It was determined that the teachers' perceptions of teacher competencies regarding the differences in the classroom did not show a significant difference according to gender, branch and professional experience. Keywords: Teacher Self-Efficacy, Competences in Managing Differences in the Classroom, Turkish teachers