VIEWS AND ATTITUDES OF PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS TOWARDS LIFE STUDIES TEACHING

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the primary school teachers’ attitudes towards life studies teaching and their views about the teaching process. The study was conducted using the convergent parallel mixed design. The participants were 209 primary school teachers working in the central district of Uşak. In the study, the quantitative data were collected via the Life Studies Teaching Attitude Scale developed by Sarıkaya, Özgöl and Yılar (2017). The scale was administered online (Google forms). The qualitative data were collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews. The findings obtained via the scale showed that the primary school teachers had high levels of attitudes towards the life studies course. Similarly, the qualitative findings demonstrated that the teachers expressed positive opinions about life studies teaching. From the gender perspective, the male teachers’ attitudes towards life studies teaching were higher than those of the female teachers. The teachers working in schools with low socio-economic level had lower attitudes towards life studies teaching than those working in schools with medium and high socio-economic levels. The interviews revealed that the scope of the course was very wide, which caused the teachers to have difficulty in presenting the subject. Lastly, the study highlighted problems arising from parents such as being a wrong role-model, ignoring the course, and not paying attention to values or education at home.