Burnout in Turkish Computer Teachers: Problems and Predictors

Abstract

Because computing has been considered to be one of the survival skills of the knowledge age (Trilling & Hood, 1999), many recent educational reform initiatives in developing countries include a computer literacy stage for students and teachers and, later, an information and communication technology diffusion stage to improve access to education, increase the quality of education, and implement educational reform (Arias & Clark, 2004; Perraton, 2000). In 1998, the Turkish Ministry of National Education (MNE) received a loan from the World Bank for the Basic Education Program, which is one of the key elements of the centralized comprehensive national education reform. The primary aims of the Basic Education Program are to expand the scope of basic education and to improve the quality of education. To achieve the latter, the MNE set additional aims, such as that to ensure that each student and teacher become computer literate, to integrate information technologies into school curriculum, and to establish information technology classrooms and computer laboratories in schools (Ministry of National Education, 2004b). At the same time, the MNE revised the curricula of several compulsory courses and designed some new elective courses to contribute to the improvement of the quality of education. In this context, computer as an elective subject was added to the elementary school curriculum in 1998 as 1 or 2 hours per week for Grades 4-8 and was later added to the academic high school curriculum in 2000 for Grades 9-10. The primary aim of this subject is to increase the number of computer-literate students (Ministry of National Education, 1998, 2000). Parallel to these initiatives, the Higher Education Council made some arrangements to the teacher education system in 1998, including the nationwide reorganization of the Faculties of Education and the establishment of a new teacher training program, called Computer and Instructional Technologies Education, to train computer teachers. In 2005, the MNE revised the elementary school curriculum to allow students to take computer subjects as electives from the first to the eighth grade. However, total teaching time is restricted to 1 hour per week. In addition, be-370

Opinions of Computer Education and Instructional Technology Lecturers’ on Field Teacher Competencies

“…The differences between what pre-service teachers are supposed to do when they start working and what is expected from them were expressed by several lecturers. The findings like information technologies teachers are regarded as technical staff by the school administration and teachers and their job descriptions are not clear enough are similar to many other research findings (Çuhadar & Dursun, 2010;Demirli, Kerimgil & Donmuş, 2012;Deryakulu, 2006;Erdoğan, 2008;Eren & Uluuysal, 2012;Henkoğlu & Yıldırım, 2012;Karal & Timuçin, 2010;Kıyıcı & Kabakçı, 2006;Odabaşı vd, 2011;Seferoğlu & Akbıyık, 2009). It was deduced that the main reason for this was information technology teachers are considered as experts, technical service staff or officials who have the know-how about everything.…”

“…Öğretmen adaylarının göreve başladıklarında yapmaları gerekenler ile kendilerinden beklenenler arasındaki farklılıklar, birçok öğretim elemanı tarafından ifade edilmiştir. Bilişim teknolojileri öğretmenlerinin, okul idaresi ve öğretmenler tarafından birer teknik eleman gibi görülmesi, görev tanımının net olmamasına ilişkin bulgular birçok araştırma sonuçlarıyla benzerlik göstermektedir (Çuhadar & Dursun, 2010;Demirli, Kerimgil, & Donmuş, 2012;Deryakulu, 2006;Erdoğan, 2008;Eren & Uluuysal, 2012;Henkoğlu & Yıldırım, 2012;Karal & Timuçin, 2010;Kıyıcı & Kabakçı, 2006;Odabaşı vd, 2011;Seferoğlu & Akbıyık, 2009). Bu durumun temel sebebi olarak; BT öğretmenlerinin teknolojiyle ilgili her konudan anlayan birer uzman, teknik servis elemanı ve memur gibi görülmeleri olduğu ortaya çıkmaktadır.…”

Examining Empirical Studies on Teacher Burnout: A Systematic Review

“…Age: Sari (2005), Sünbül (2003) and Deryakulu (2007) demonstrated that age was positively related to, and a significant predictor of, personal success. Sari (2005) and Sünbül (2003) observed that age positively predicted desensitisation, while Karakuş (2013) determined that age was negatively related to burnout for both female and male participants, and it was a significant predictor of burnout for men, but not for women.…”

“…The work load in school was reported to increase emotional burnout and desensitisation (Deryakulu, 2007). Accordingly, teachers' expectations about their duties may increase teacher burnout.…”

Computer education in Turkish basic education schools: gaps between policy and practice

“…"İlköğretim Okulları Bilişim Teknolojileri Öğretmenleri Anketi", araştırmacı tarafından ilgili literatürün taranması sonucu elde edilen bilgiler ışığında hazırlanmıştır (Deryakulu, 2005(Deryakulu, , 2006Deryakulu, Olkun, 2007Kabakçı, Kurt, Yıldırım, 2008;Seferoğlu, 2007). Ankette yer alan maddelerin bir kısmının, Timuçin, Öngöz ve Tatlı ( 2007) tarafından geliştirilen bir çalışmadan esinlenerek hazırlanmasına rağmen, maddelerin çoğunluğu araştırmacının bilişim teknolojileri öğretmeni olarak kendi deneyimlerinden yararlanılarak hazırlanmıştır.…”