Teachers’ Perception of 2018 Turkish National Curriculum Change

Abstract

This research aimed to reveal teachers’ perception of 2018 Turkish national curriculum change. The research was designed as a mixed method research. 306 teachers participated in the quantitative phase of the study and eight teachers participated in the qualitative part of the study. The data were collected through a scale and semi-structured interviews in the spring semester of 2019-2020 education year. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the quantitative data, and content analysis was conducted for the analysis of the qualitative data. The research findings indicated teacThis research aimed to reveal teachers’ perception of 2018 Turkish national curriculum change. The research was designed as a mixed method research. 306 teachers participated in the quantitative phase of the study and eight teachers participated in the qualitative part of the study. The data were collected through a scale and semi-structured interviews in the spring semester of 2019-2020 education year. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the quantitative data, and content analysis was conducted for the analysis of the qualitative data. The research findings indicated teachers’ perception regarding curriculum change was at “neutral” level. In addition, it was found that teachers’ perception differed significantly in terms of having postgraduate degree and getting in-service training while teachers’ age, experience, level of school and faculty graduated did not create a significant difference. Also, it was found teachers viewed all curricula similar after 2005 constructivist curriculum reform and lacked sufficient knowledge and skills as regards to implementation of different dimensions of the 2018 curricula. Thus, providing teachers with quality in-service training may be recommended in order to introduce the fundamentals of new curricula so that teachers may adopt and apply them easier. hers’ perception regarding curriculum change was at “not sure” level. In addition, it was found that teachers’ perception differed significantly in terms of having graduate degree and getting in-service training while teachers’ age, experience, level of school and faculty graduated did not create a significant difference. Also, it was found teachers viewed all curricula similar after 2005 constructivist curriculum reform and lacked sufficient knowledge and skills about different dimensions of the 2018 curricula. Thus, providing teachers with quality in-service training may be recommended in order to introduce the fundamentals of new curricula so that teachers may adopt and apply them easier.