The Competence of Primary School Teachers According to Perception of Primary School Pricipals

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the competence of primary school (8- year compulsory primary education schools) teachers graduating from departments of classroom teaching in education faculties as well as from other faculties or schools for higher education, and serving in the first grade of primary schools, according the perceptions of primary school principals. A total of 53 principals from 53 primary schools in the center of Diyarbakır were included in the study. Under the light of the data analysis, a significant difference was found regarding the competence of teachers in subject matter, teaching methods, measurement and evaluation, and research and human relations between the teachers graduating from classroom teacher departments and those graduating from other faculties and schools of higher education, both groups serving in the first grade of primary schools. The results show that primary schools’ principals found the teachers graduating from classroom teacher departments to be “fairly adequate" and those graduating from other faculties and schools for higher education to be only “partly adequate” in terms of the above-mentioned criteria.