The Effect of Pre-Service Teacher Education on the Educational Philosophies of Prospective Teachers

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to determine the nature of change that occurred in the educational philosophies of prospective teachers in an MA programme. In addition, the effect of some personal variables such as students’ gender, department, and the level of liking teaching profession on the educational philosophies of prospective teachers were also investigated. The study was carried out with 125 prospective teachers who were attending a MA programme in secondary education subject areas. “Philosophy Preference Assessment Scale” which was developed by Wiles & Bondi (2007:329-330) was used to asses educational philosophies of prospective teachers. In analysing the data chi square, paired samples t-test and two-way ANOVA for repeated measures techniques were used. Findings indicated that in both at the beginning and at the end of the master of education programme for secondary education subject areas, experimentalism was the most preferred philosophy. It was also found that there is a significant change from beginning to the end of the programme on the preference of perennialism, idealism and existentialism philosophies. Results also revealed that interactional effect of pre-test, post-test philosophy preference scores and selected personal variables have not created a significant difference on the philosophy preferences of prospective teachers. In conclusion, it can be said that master of education programme for secondary education subject areas teaching as a pre-service teacher education programme has a limited effect on the philosophical preferences of prospective teachers. It is obvious that it is necessary to include courses and extra curriculum activities to change philosophical preferences of prospective teachers in an intended way.