Teacher Candidates' Viewpoints Regarding General Competencies for Teaching Profession and the Necessity Level of Teaching Profession Courses

Abstract

In this study, the relationship between the general competencies forteaching profession and teacher training programs in Turkey wereinvestigated. The data were collected from 304 undergraduate studentsstudying at a faculty of education in a state university. In order tocollect data a scale consisting of the statements in general competenciesfor teaching profession and a list of elective and mandatory courses inthe renewed teacher training program were used. The results revealedthat students’ competency levels were high. However, the correlationbetween the competency levels and the GPA of the students was weak.It was also found that pre-school teaching department students hadsignificantly higher competency scores than the other students’. Lastly,it was found that the most required course was ‚Teaching Practice I-II‛and the least required course was ‚The Philosophy of Education‛ fromthe participants’ point of view.