Classroom teachers’ views on professional development and cooperation: A Turkish profile

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the views of teachers who are employed in the primary education (grades 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) on professional development and professional cooperation and whether there are significant differences among these views in terms of gender, level of education and length of service variables. The population of the research consists of classroom teachers who are employed in 153 primary education schools in the city of Konya. According to the findings obtained from the data, classroom teachers’ views about professional development and professional cooperation, there was not a significant difference among the teachers’ views in terms of gender, education and length of service variables. This situation was interpreted as a result of the efforts to orient teachers towards professional development in order to ensure success in the implementation of the new primary education programmes that took effect in Turkey in 2005 to 2006. Key words: Professional development, professional cooperation, classroom teachers, teachers’ views