The purpose of this study was to reveal first grade students’ perceptions of their preschool and elementary school experience. Phenomenological research design was used in this qualitative study. Participants were twenty first grade students who had attended preschool. The data were obtained by using semi-structured interviews and pictures drawn by children, and analyzed by qualitative data analysis. The results showed that preschool, which offers an environment of play based activities, was perceived as a more enjoyable and desired place by children. The children also expressed that their elementary school experiences were based on rules, academic knowledge and skills in contrast to their preschool experience, and that elementary school entailed more duties and responsibilities.

It is believed that there is a positive relationship between the attitudes of the teachers towards the lesson they teach and the attitudes of the students towards this lesson. Within this context, it is considered important to determine the attitudes of teachers who develop an attitude in a way to be able to make the subject achieve the goal effectively. Together with this, it is more significant to determine the attitudes of teachers during their undergraduate education since attitude is a phenomenon that cannot be altered easily. In this study, a scale was developed to measure the attitudes of teacher candidates towards grammar. The validity and reliability analyses of the research designed according to screening model were conducted on 252 undergraduate students. According to the results of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) of the data collected from the 25-item trial form prepared, it was found that the scale had a 15-item, 4-factor structure and explained 67.84% of the total variance. As a result of the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) performed, the fit index values ​​were examined, and it was seen that the 4-factor structure of the 15-item scale was confirmed as a model. The results of EFA and CFA exhibited that the scale had a valid structure. Cronbach-Alpha internal consistency and test-retest reliability coefficients were calculated to determine the reliability of the scale and according to the values obtained, it was concluded that the scale was reliable.

The inactivity, defined as the disease of the century, has reduced the quality of life by making a negative impact on the health of human beings and has led governments to take urgent measures on physical activity and scientists to make multidimensional studies on this issue. For this reason, in this study, it was aimed to examine the relationship between physical activity levels, leisure motivations and life quality of candidate teachers who will be a model in the future to the students. A total of 472 candidate teachers (258 male and 214 female) from Afyon Kocatepe University participated in the study. As a data collection tool, in addition to the "Leisure Motivation Scale" (LMS), developed by Pelletier et al. and adapted to Turkish by Mutlu (1991); “World Health Organization Quality of Life Assesment’’ (WHOQOL-BREF) and "International Physical Activity Evaluation Questionnaire Abbreviated Version’’ (IPAQ-Short Form) were used. In the analysis of the data, in addition to descriptive statistical methods for personal information, correlation and multiple linear regression analyzes were used. According to research findings, it was determined that 38.6% of the candidate teachers had a low level of physical activity and they had a high leisure motivation levels in the identified/introjected subscale. Moreover, the correlation results showed that there was a positive correlation between the quality of life and physical activity level and all sub-dimensions of leisure motivation. According to the results of multiple linear regression analysis, it was determined that the most important variable to predict the quality of life was the level of physical activity.

In the evolving global stage, educators are continuously challenged to keep up with the changing expectations and unknown future needs of their students. Educators must engage in professional development and growth through numerous practices, including the pursuit of graduate studies in higher education institutions. Their curiosity, love, compassion, accountability, and eagerness to learn are some of the motivators that drive life-long learners to seek their personal and professional goals. When leaders and administrators support this learning process, they drive their organizations to innovation and change, while building on employee morale, pride, loyalty, and providing guidance towards high performance for their students, educators, and community, as a whole. Meanwhile, educators become teaching and learning leaders inspiring their students and younger generations by example. Furthermore, it is essential that educational institutions provide a consistent, high-quality academic experience in order for their students to become citizens and leaders of the world, especially given the level and degree of local, national, and global challenges that societies face. This can be achieved through the provision of a holistic, harmonious educational experience, guided by ethical discipline and universal principles and values, while attending to students’ needs and competencies. 

This study investigated the integration of English intercultural teaching of Thai secondary school teachers using questionnaires and classroom observations. The results from the questionnaires revealed that participants perceived that they integrated English intercultural teaching at a low level. In the actual classroom, they placed a paramount focus on teaching English intercultural ‘knowledge’, whereas assessing students’ intercultural ‘attitudes’ and ‘behavior’ gained the least attention. Finally, it should be noted that the aspects of cultural bias during the teaching practice of participants require further attention. 

The aim of this study is to reveal preschool teachers' views on science education, science activities they carry out, methods and techniques they use as well as problems they encounter while performing science activities. This study was carried out according to the case study which frequently used in qualitative research methodology. The study group was identified using the convenience sampling method. The study group constitutes 32 preschool teachers working in preschools in Kilis province. A written interview form prepared by field experts was used to collect data. Content analysis procedure was used to analyse the data.

According to the results obtained in the study, it has been determined that the vast majority of preschool teachers consider themselves competent in teaching science, and state that the science education environment should be equipped and rich in teaching materials, and that science concepts can be better taught to children through hands-on activities as well as supporting them with visual materials. Additionally, it has been determined that teachers try to develop scientific process skills in children through science activities. It has also been identified that teachers use common science materials while performing science activities that they mostly use spontaneous/nature-related activities, prefer group activities, and carry out science activities at least once a week. It has further been determined that teachers especially use such methods as experiment, observation, demonstration more than other methods when performing science activities. Besides, it has been specified that the experiment method is children’s most favourite method, which is also easy to apply. The main problem faced by the teachers during science activities was determined to be the lack of teaching materials, crowded classrooms, physical inadequacy of classrooms and uninterested parents. It has also been found that the problems encountered are mostly depend on schools, classrooms, parents and lack of materials.

This study aims to detect school principals’ and teachers’ views on teacher performance evaluation, which is made for teachers- who are one of the most important resources of education- to develop themselves. Semi-structured interview method, one of qualitative research methods, was used in this study. The study group was composed of 18 school principals and 60 teachers working in the Çan district of Çanakkale province. “Interview Form 1” to obtain school principals’ views on teacher performance evaluation and “Interview Form 2” to obtain teachers’ views- both of which were developed by the researchers- were used for data collection. The collected data were put to inductive content analysis. The majority of the school principals were informed of the goals of teacher performance evaluation. School principals considered teacher performance evaluation as positive in that it was objective, that it helped teachers in self-development, that it contributed to students’ development, that it made students active in the classroom and that it used the method of reward and punishment. According to principals and teachers, leaving teacher performance evaluation to the managers of the institutions was positive in terms of reliability and objectivity. Yet, both school principals and teachers were of the opinion that conflicts could occur in schools unless the criteria for evaluation were not clear and distinct and unless evaluation is fair.

School management gets use of human and material resources to ensure equality of opportunity in education. Financial and information resources as well as staff of the schools may be inadequate. The schools with a wealthy environment can offer rich programs and educational activities to their students, while others aim to apply only basic academic programs and are insufficient to offer additional programs. In this context, this study aims to determine the views of school principals and members of the board of school-parent partnership related to the school economy. The research was designed according to qualitative research method. The phenomenological approach method was used in the research. The data of the study were collected from 12 principals working in different types of high schools through semi-structured interview technique. The research concluded that school principals or members of the board of school-parent partnership have an effective environment, they should be successful in communication and persuasion skills and be sociable; school principals need new regulations to meet the urgent needs of school; the importance of the usefulness of school buildings and therefore paying attention opinions of school principals and teachers in the building process of the schools will lead to the reduction of the school principals’ workload in the future and so they allocate time and efforts for improving the academic success of students; reasons that affect donation to the school can be selfish or unselfish; ways persuading donors such as being honest and keeping words, the power of motivation, producing projects in school.

In this study, subjective well-being and perceived social support from family, friends, and teachers, were examined to determine how effective on the levels of cyber victimization and bullying in adolescents. The research was conducted on the basis of the relational screening model. The sample group of this study is created by high school students that continue education at the high school level in Erzincan and Ağrı provinces in 2017-2018 academic year, they have chosen by unselected sampling method, as determined by 416 (53.7%) are male and 358 (46.3%), including girls, are a total of 774 adolescents. The Cyber Victim and Bullying Scale (Çetin, Yaman & Peker, 2011), Adolescent Subjective Well-Being Scale (Eryılmaz, 2009), Perceived Social Support Scale (ASLÖ-R) (Yıldırım, 1997, 2004), and Personel Information Form was used as the data collection tools in the study. The data obtained in the study were analyzed by stepwise regression analysis method from multiple linear regression analysis. According to research findings; subjective well-being in adolescents, perceived social support from family, friends, and teachers variables reveal significance at the level of cyber victimization and bullying.  

In the present study, the presence of a correlation between the communication skills and the speech self-efficacy of pre-service Turkish teachers was investigated. Associational survey model was adopted in the research. Research data were collected with two instruments which aimed to measure the communication skills and speech self-efficacy levels of junior students attending the Turkish Language Education departments of five universities in different regions in Turkey. The study findings demonstrated that there were moderate and large positive significant correlations between the speech self-efficacy perceptions (SSES) and communication skills (CSS) of pre-service Turkish teachers based on total scores and the subscale scores. Based on the findings it was recommended that pre-service teachers should be provided with more opportunities to develop their speech skills to ensure their command in active and healthy communications in the educational processes.

Speaking is viewed as a skill more often used in communication and interaction in particular. However, the speaking skill is measured in various ways. The aim of this study is, therefore, to determine the views of Turkish as a Foreign Language (TFL) instructors (lecturers and teachers) on measuring and evaluating speaking skills. To this end, the research data were obtained with the help of 51 TFL instructors who volunteered to fill out a semi-structured interview form titled “Instructors’ Views on the Assessment and Evaluation of the Speaking Skill in Turkish as a Foreign Language” created as a Google Docs form. The obtained data were then analyzed through content analysis technique, which revealed that the instructors perform their speaking skill assessments on basis of the criteria including grammar rules, pronunciation/ articulation, fluency, vocabulary knowledge, starting/sustaining dialogues, meaning construction, consistency, self-expression, language learning level, level of achieving outcomes, using phrases, style, length of speech, individual differences, exemplification, chronological narration, avoiding repetition, stress-intonation, body language, rate of speech, and effective use of time. It can be concluded that assessing and evaluating the Turkish speaking skill with a rubric to be developed based on these criteria will help minimize any potential rater subjectivities involved in such measurement and evaluation.

In this study it was aimed to evaluate the effects of various factors such as sample sizes, percentage of misfit items in the test and item quality (item discrimination) on item and model fit in case of misspecification of Q matrix. Data were generated in accordance with DINA model. Q matrix was specified for 4 attributes and 15 items. While data were generated, sample sizes as 1000, 2000, 4000, s and g parameters as low and high discrimination index were manipulated. Three different misspecified Q matrix (overspecified, underspecified and mixed) was developed considering the percentage of misfit items (%20 and %40). In the study, S-X2 was used as item fit statistics. Furthermore absolute (abs(fcor), max(X2)) and relative (-2 log-likelihood, Akaike's information criterion (AIC) and Bayesian information criterion (BIC)) model fit statistics were used. Investigating the results obtained from this simulation study, it was concluded that S-X2 was sufficient to detect misfit items. When the percentage of misfit items in the test was much or Q matrix was both underspecified and overspecified, the correct detection of both abs(fcor) and max(X2) statistics was approximately 1 or 1. In addition, the correct detection rates of both statistics was high under other conditions, too. AIC and BIC were successful to detect model misfit in the cases where the Q matrix underspecified, whereas, they were failed detect model misfit for other cases. It can be said that the performance of BIC was mostly better than other relative model fit statistics to detect model misfit.