Investigating Teacher Candidates' Beliefs about Standardized Testing

İsmail Kinay,Tuncay Ardıç

doi:10.13189/ujer.2017.051219

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the beliefs of prospective teachers' about standardized testing in terms of some variables. This piece of research is in survey model. The study is carried out with 442 randomly selected prospective teachers registered in different departments at Dicle University in Turkey during the 2015-2016 academic year. Selected teacher candidates are grouped under 5 fields according to the branches they have registered (social sciences, language education, mathematics and sciences, fields requiring special ability, basic education). The Beliefs about Standardized Testing Scale (BAST) developed by Magee and Jones (2012) and adapted into Turkish language by Ilhan, Cetin and Kinay (2015) is used as data collection tool. As a result of the study teacher candidates are found to have moderate beliefs for standardized tests. There is a significant difference between the candidate teachers' beliefs about standardized tests in terms of their gender and fields. Teacher candidates' beliefs about standardized tests do not differ significantly according to the grade variable.

Highlights

There are many factors that direct human behavior
Considering the determinative role of beliefs on human behavior, understanding the educational beliefs of teachers and teacher candidates is important for the development of teaching practices and for the potential success of educational reforms [3]
One of the beliefs that teachers and teacher candidates possess and needs special attention during the teaching and learning process is the beliefs about standardized testing [5]

Summary

Introduction

There are many factors that direct human behavior One of these is the beliefs of the individual. Considering the determinative role of beliefs on human behavior, understanding the educational beliefs of teachers and teacher candidates is important for the development of teaching practices and for the potential success of educational reforms [3]. Educational beliefs that teachers have, provides a window on their decision-making, practice and the effectiveness of teaching practices [4], [2]. In this context, one of the beliefs that teachers and teacher candidates possess and needs special attention during the teaching and learning process is the beliefs about standardized testing [5]

Objectives

Methods

Results