Culturally Relevant/Responsive Education: What do teachers think in Turkey?

Abstract

The aim of this study is to survey teachers' views about culturally relevant/responsive education (CRE), in Turkey in terms of some variables. The study was designed as a descriptive survey model. The data were collected by means of a scale, Culturally Relevant Education View Scale (CREVS), developed by the researchers. The scale applied to 1302 teachers who were selected with random-stratified sampling and working currently in Van, Diyarbakır, Konya, Antalya, İzmir, İstanbul, and Trabzon provinces. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests were used in the analysis of the data. The results clearly indicated that teachers' views are positive though they have some doubts about CRE. For example, some teachers think that taking into account the different cultural values of the students can negatively affect the educational process (53%) while the vast majority of teachers believe that different cultural values should be supported (87%) and be taken into consideration (85%) in the classroom environment, and so, it is possible to affect teaching-learning process positively (%89). In addition, the teachers' views differ significantly according to factors such as gender, the number of cities they have worked, the geographical area where they grew up, the graduation programs, branches, the level of family socioeconomic status, the experiences related to diversity/multicultural education and the province/city they teach currently. We offer it is important to make CRE a central part of teacher education, both during initial preparation and during professional development.