Examining Certain Variables Affecting Student Achievement in Teacher Training Institutions: Erciyes University Sample

Abstract

Achievement is a kind of indicator of to what extent one benefits from certain academic curricula or a course. In this study, achievement means “Academic Achievement”, which expresses the marks that are improved in school lessons and appreciated by teachers, test scores or the representation of gained knowledge, or the skills determined by both. Factors including intelligence, ability, learning styles, gender, family structure, environmental conditions, economic conditions, curriculum and the attitude towards the learnt subject, learning environment, and instructor may be ranged as variables affecting student success. Instructors, as a variable that affects student success directly; the way that s/he perceives the world, the way that s/he assesses the educational system, the competence in his or her field, the way that s/he presents the subjects related to his or her field and his or her gender may be accepted as some factors affecting student success. The subject “Education and Gender” has been recently one of the most discussed subjects in educational sciences. Together the impossibility of clearly determining what the function of each variable that affects students’ achievement levels in educational process is, it may be more appropriate to deal with the variables separately and extend the samples to make the research results on which we examined the effects of the mentioned variables much more reliable. Thus, expanding the extent of population and sample or carrying out the same research in different places / environments can contribute to the attempts to get more realistic and scientific results. The objective of this study is to determine whether the faculty and the department which students study in teacher training institutions, instructor and students’ gender affect student success or not, and what the level of this effect is. The population of this study that having been used screening model is the grad students from Faculty of Education, and Faculty of Arts and Sciences (in 2010, this faculty was separated as Faculty of Science and Faculty of Arts) in Erciyes University. The method as taking samples from the faculties was not followed; instead, we could reach all the students’ information. However, the last three-years-grad students’ (2007-2010) information was utilized for the extent of this research. This study was conducted by studying on 388.973 data indicating the achievement levels. Findings were clarified by interpreting them via SPSS in accordance with sub-problems of the study. At the end of the study, it was noted that the students’ academic achievements indicate statistical difference according to the faculty and the department that they study, and their own genders; on the contrary, any statistical difference was not found in terms of instructors’ genders.