1

PROBLEMS THAT PRESERVICE TEACHERS EXPERIENCE AND

CHALLENGES IN TEACHER EDUCATION
(TURKEY SAMPLE)

Sarem Ozdemir Dr. Ahmet Guneyli

Middle East Technical University-Ankara Near East University-Nicosia

Abstract
Components of education are the heart of a country’s overall
system. Since all national problems in the world is mostly dependent on
educational system. One of the main components of education is teachers.
Therefore, we need highly qualified teachers. At this point, teacher
education has a very crucial place and effect on educational system and
thus on the nation’s future. Student teachers may provide more explanatory
data about the present system. This literature review is mainly focused on
student teachers in Turkey and provides a snapshot of the problems and
challenges that student teachers’ face in their preservice training. This
study also rises to notice to the insufficient practicing of student teachers
and challenges they face through their first years of teaching profession.
This review also aims to raise alarm for authorities to provide teachers
more opportunities for professional development. Besides at the end of this
discussion, some research questions are offered to obtain data about the
problems and challenges of teachers they experience in their preservice
training, in order to increase the quality of teachers and teacher preparation
programs.

Keywords: Teacher Training, Preservice Teachers, Problems in Education,

Turkish Education System

1. Teacher Training Programs

There always have been made critiques of teachers and of teacher

training programs according to the place they are educated (Cochran and
Smith, 2004). As we all know, universities have the licensing authority for
teaching in Turkey since 1982. It is not different in the world, as McKeon
(2001) states that the conventional route for bringing people into teaching has
been through an approved college teacher education program route.
In 1998, Turkey has rearranged and made some revisions in teacher
training programs. This revision includes some changes and modifications in
the courses taught in the colleges of education. Especially pedagogical -
contented courses has been developed and carried out by the Ministry of
Education.
In 2006, education faculties have great opportunities and the teacher
training programs have renewed. And the new curricula have been used since
 2
2006. New departments opened and the number of education faculties was
increased. So, this affects the number of academics and students. (Kavak,
Aydın and Altun, 2007)
According to the revisions in the curriculum, Primary Education
departments have 13 courses out of 65 that include pedagogical knowledge. 37
courses cover subject of field (Literacy education, Maths education and etc)
and 15 courses of general information (Native language, Foreign language,
Turkish History, Computer, Communication and etc.) (YOK, 2007). Teachers
have a bachelor’s degree of arts, after they have fully completed the program
requirements. Besides in the colleges of education, students have the chance to
complete their program in 5 years with a non-thesis master degree, as an
extended degree program.

2. Mostly Debated Issues about Teacher Education

No one can deny that education plays a crucial role on a country’s

improvement. Both learning and teaching should carry a vision of a high-
qualified society. And it is an indisputable issue that “teacher training” has a
very important place which is an affective variable. Çakıroğlu and Çakıroğlu
(2003) drew attention to some problems and debated issues in teacher
education in Turkey. Çakıroğlu and Çakıroğlu (2003) divided these issues into
two sections; “The Problems Originating from Outside Teacher Education
Programmes” and “The Problems Originating from Teacher Education
Programmes” According to Çakıroğlu & Çakıroğlu (2003) ; the problems from
outside that originate teacher education programs are listed as; (1) population,
(2) political issues (3) problems of teachers (4) Admission (Hiring). Problems
that authors mentioned above, (for the first section) seems still unsolved.
Zeichner (2003) stated that the most challenging issues in United States
America are inadequate number of teachers, adaptation and management
problems in line with the growing disparity among students, lack of sustained
attention to preparing teachers to teach across lines of ethnicity/race language
and social class. When we look at the issues closer, that is similar, there are
some particular problems concerning teacher education in Turkey.
It was predicted that in 2005, the population was around 72 millions in
Turkey (OECD, 2005). Turkey has one of the youngest populations in the
world; (OECD, 2005; Altan, 1998) This age composition exerts pressure on
educational resources (Çakıroğlu & Çakıroğlu, 2003). Since Turkey has one of
the youngest populations in the world, more teachers are needed in the regions.
According to the data reported by Turkey Statistical Organization, there are
18,742,211 students and 669,000 teachers in the classes K-5 through K-12 by
2006 (TUIK, 2007).
Another major problem is the direction of the migration in Turkey.
There is a rapid growth of population in the big cities of Turkey. Consequences
of migration and population growth cost a lot for the public. Çakıroğlu and
Çakıroğlu (2003) stated that
 3
in the 1997–1998 academic year, graduates of any of the four-year university
programme without special preparation to teach were accepted for teaching
jobs throughout the country with a minimal amount of in-service training to
close the gap between their knowledge and the required education for being a
teacher. Similarly, to meet the lack of teachers for elementary schools,
secondary teachers have been appointed to elementary schools, but those who
were trained in only one subject area such as biology are reluctant to teach
science instead of biology (p. 257)
Hiring people who are unrelated with teaching profession or people
who have minimal amount of education on teaching is one of the major issues
that decrease the quality of teacher education and thus education. Political
issues in Turkey affects the educational system overall. The authority in this
issue is the Higher Education Council and Ministry of Education. As Altan
(2000) notes establishing quality in teacher education require some changes in
the recruitment of teachers in their training. He also calls Higher Education
Council and Ministry of Education to change the policies and practices,
relating to the induction, licensure and granting tenure.
Another important issue that originates teacher education in Turkey is
the low socio-economical status of teachers. Çakıroğlu and Çakıroğlu (2003)
stated that highly qualified students do not prefer to be a teacher because of the
low life standards of a teacher. The factors that affect the teaching profession
are not only the low socio-economic status but also a demanding and heavy
workload. Karagözoğlu (1991) stated that teaching profession is not an
attractive profession and has always had low priority in comparison with other
fields. He also mentioned that these problems affect the quality of education in
Turkish elementary and secondary schools in a negative way. However, this
scene has changed in Turkey for a while. According to Student Selection and
Placement Council, college of education is the most preferred college between
the students who has the first rank in their schools (OSYM, 2006). 713 students
selected to have their education in a college of education. However, we do not
have enough evidence to claim that these students are highly qualified and
appropriate for teaching profession. Besides, we also can not claim that
teaching profession is the most attractive profession in Turkey. But we can
anticipate that it is maybe due to the hiring situations in Turkey.
Çakıroğlu and Çakıroğlu (2003) also stated that admission to be a
teacher is completely impractical and difficult. Both primary and secondary
school teachers are selected in the same way. They have to take Student
Selection Examination and place in the first 10 % of the subjects enrolled in the
exam. In such a situation it does not seem possible and reasonable to select
teacher candidates with a more accurate strategy.
Keys (2005) stated that teachers do not fulfill the implications in the
new curriculum. They verbally agree with the curriculum change but rarely
perform the conditions that match up with their classroom practice and, as a
result, the intended curriculum is never fully implemented. Keys (2005) stated
that the reason of this situation is the core beliefs of the teachers. Since it is a
broad issue it will not be considered in this review.
 4
Seferoğlu (2000) stressed that teacher education in Turkey shows that
there have always been difficulties in the system that is emanated from various
aspects. One of the most important problems in the system has been a lack of
successful coordination and collaboration among authorities involved in
teacher education and hiring. As mentioned before, Higher Education Council
and Ministry of Education are the authorities to collaborate and actualize a
successful coordination. To have high qualified teachers, first student teachers
need to have a good role model and otherwise training would not achieve its
goal. They produce routine and often ill-conceived scholarship, and stay away
from public school classrooms. And these preparation programs are seldom
evaluated in terms of teaching ability of their graduates.

3. To Be a Beginner in the Teaching Profession

There is a body of research which examines challenges in teacher

education in general especially the challenges that pre-service teachers face
through. What do we mean by saying pre-service teachers? Pre-service
teachers are student teachers who are provided some special education and
training before they have undertaken any teaching.
To satisfy the condition to be a teacher is really somewhat knotty!
Especially in Turkey, first they have to have a bachelor’s degree, and then they
have to pass the written examination (KPSS). Moreover their responsibility
covers the needs of school, students, parents and society. In other countries the
situation is quite similar. As Onafowora (2004) highlights, standards in the
both USA and the European countries, require at least a bachelor's degree, a
licensure in the area of teaching, and evidence to prove competence in subject
matter area and teaching skills. In other words a teacher should be a perfect one
who answers almost all needs of the people. But many people are not aware of
the challenges and difficulties they meet in the beginning of their career. Melo
(2003) makes the point of difficult tasks that teachers face. He mentions that
“The nature of teaching also lends itself to being of an ethical and moral nature
because of the complexity of the teachers’ tasks. The complexity stems from
the variety of tasks that a teacher performs. For example, teachers need to be
able to act on the spot, respond effectively and fairly to students, deliver
engaging lessons in a limited amount of time, and assess various levels of
students’ work and abilities”.
One of the major problems that preservice teachers face is putting
theory into practice. Altan (1998) emphasized that the practicum is the most
neglected area in teaching. He stressed that number of subject matter area and
general education courses are more than the courses that teach how to teach.
Therefore preservice teachers spend a little time to learn how to teach and
actual teaching. As mentioned above pre-service teachers in Turkey, enroll a
written examination which is a criterion based exam. Afterwards, according to
their score they get shifted to a school. Therefore they do not have the chance
to gain enough experience which leads them to experience some difficulties
during their first years of profession.
 5
4. General Problems that Preservice Teachers Face Through

Preservice teachers encounter many problems during their training.

Kansanen (1991) have an opinion about the basic problem that preservice
teachers experience. He stressed that prospective teachers have first observed
teaching during their 12 years at school and after that a few more years while
studying practicing. And the Kansanen undergrids that this experience is
negative because it represents exact teaching models which are difficult to get
rid of. Another similar assertion is made by Eisner. Eisner (1992) stated that
preservice teachers are socialized into the profession through continuous
contact with teachers for about 15 years before starting to teach. Chuene and
Lubben (1999) mentioned that, becoming a teacher might be wish of the
teacher who has built an image, a role model.
Gilbert (2005) conducted a survey in 2003 and 2004 with 362
preservice teachers to answer the question “what helps beginning teachers”. It
was an interesting result that is almost same (only the order is slightly changed)
for each group of preservice teachers. Results are documented as follows
(p.36);
a) Giving new teachers the opportunity to observe other teachers.
b) Assigning mentors to new teachers.
c) Providing new teachers with feedback based on classroom
observations.
d) Providing new teachers with co-planning time with other teachers.
e) Assigning new teachers to smaller classes.
One important point should be noted here. Maccann and Johansenn
(2004) conducted a longitudinal study which is completed in five years. They
sought answers to the questions (1) what are the significant frustrations that
could influence beginning teachers to leave the profession and (2) what
supports resources and preparations influence beginning teachers to remain in
the profession. They interviewed and videotaped with eleven teachers and
conducted follow-up interviews during the study. And they asserted at the end
of the article that, mentor teachers should be selected carefully. They put
forward that the mentor that is going to be assigned to the new teacher should
voluntarily join the process. Maccann and Johansenn (2004) also found that
preservice teachers need to set up new relationship with experienced teachers.
Moreover, they need to do some personal connections with senior teachers to
share their experiences and ask for suggestions.
From the results we may conclude that preservice teachers do not feel
confident themselves. They do not know teaching in the literal sense. The
novices express a less than confident position regarding their teaching
experiences, and portray themselves challenged by discipline issues that
overshadow instruction (Onafowora, 2004). In Turkey as Altan (1998)
mentioned the practicum courses in teacher education programs is often
misused. Preservice teachers go to schools for eight weeks with no supervision
and opportunity to have experience. Therefore, teachers carry on teaching
profession practically with little, even no real experience. Yalçınkaya (2002)
stated five major problems that are faced through by teachers in Turkey (a)
 6
Insufficient practicing; (b) Confliction between theory and practice (c) Being
under pressure; (d) being idealistic and (d) anxiety related with the inspection
by school inspectors.
In Japan, there are similarities with Turkey. Nohara (1997) emphasized
that the university teacher-training programs are theory-based and the period of
student teaching is very brief, teachers have very little experience dealing with
pupils, which let them try to lead to higher levels of knowledge and maturity.
Although preservice teachers do have the chance to be a teacher in the school
experience courses; it is a very limited time and not enough, to gain
competency in teaching. Since this is the way it is, as it was mentioned before
novice teachers experience some difficulties in their first years.

5. Research Studies About The Problems of Preservice Teachers in Turkey

In this part, preservice teachers’ problems are explored during their

training program. These problems are especially found in the research studies
done after 2000. According to these studies that has been done in the last 8
years, 5 basic problems are observed. These are:
i. Problems related with teacher education system
ii. Problems related with teacher education programs
iii. Problems related with human power elements in education
iv. Problems related with the education period
v. Problems related with technological inadequacies.

i. Problems Related With Teacher Education System

Akgün (2005) states that, ‘There are lots of problems in Turkish

educational system. Some of these problems are directly related to teaching and
learning processes such as inert knowledge, weak transfer, lack of instructional
technologies, human resources, inappropriate instructional approaches etc.’ He
summarized problems related with Turkish Education system as;
a. Students are not prepared for the life itself but the Student Selection
Examinations (ÖSS). Student are forced to take private lessons to
success in these examinations. In such a situation rote learning is
widely used by students that puts them away from the realities since
they mostly use rote learning to be successful in these multiple
choice type examinations.
b. Education system does not promote critical thinking therefore their
communication skills are weak and cannot express themselves .
c. Ongoing curriculum involves many irrelevant information and the
system forces students to use “repetition strategy”. Teachers also
waste time by repeating the same issues each year. Another
important point is the teachers’ teaching strategies they use in their
daily classroom routine. Although they seem very active in the
classroom, they use the same strategies every time and this leads
 7
them not to improve themselves professionally. Therefore, the
quality of education weakens.
d. There is a competitive tradition ruling in the classrooms.
The problems that have been mentioned before affects preservice
teachers. Although novice teachers try to use a modern approach in the
classrooms, experienced teachers’ preconceived notions, regulations and
perspective of the administration can threaten them to keep using these modern
approaches. Besides novice teachers abstain from guardians which is an
important factor to repress teachers using modern strategies. Nonetheless,
teachers are more comfortable when using traditional approach.

ii. Problems Related With Teacher Education Curricula

Seferoğlu (2004), in his “Teacher Candidates’ Evaluation Of Their

Teaching Competencies” entitled study, put forward that there are certain
factors that teacher education programs are insufficient to provide the required
education quality. He claimed that, these programs are not efficient in;
1. Knowing students
2. Planning education
3. Developing teaching and learning tools
4. Teaching process
5. Managing teaching process
6. Testing and evaluation
7. Guidance
8. Improving basic skills
9. Providing special education
10. Adult education
11. Organizing outdoor activities
12. Improving him/herself
13. Improving the school
14. Improving the school and society relationship
Sarıtaş (2007) stressed that, teacher education programs does not
provide the needed environment to let the students practice theories during
their education life. In other words, he stated that in Turkey, teachers are
exposed to apply the rule first and then practice, rather than applying both.
Besides, the ongoing curriculum is theoretical and student teachers are forced
to learn all theories, rather than practicing or applying them. This approach
leads student teachers use classroom and time management weakly and use of
teaching-learning tools inefficiently. Nonetheless, student teachers experience
serious difficulties in the planning test and evaluation process, motivating
students and recognizing differences between students.
Doğan (2005) pointed to a critical problem in teacher education and
asserted that valid political perspective in 2000 was to graduate more teachers
with less cost. Specially, in the beginning of 2000, lots of graduates from
different colleges are commissioned as teachers. For instance, in 1996 many
graduates of Faculty of Agriculture are commissioned as primary school
teachers which really drew down the quality of education.
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iii. Problems Related With Human Power Elements In Education

We can evaluate human power elements that influence teacher

candidates in application schools under 5 headings.
a. Preservice teacher himself
b. The teacher of the application class
c. The director of the application school
d. The students of the application class
e. The educator of preservice teacher – the academician-

a. The teacher candidates could have some problems before stating their
occupation, during education period and after starting to work as a teacher. In
his research (2005), Doğan stated that the students who can’t pass university
entrance exam mostly choose Teaching Departments. He has added that, as a
result of this, they don’t show interest in their courses and their desire of being
successful is declined. Preferring Education Faculties isn’t primary goal.
In the study, “The Professional Concerns of Preservice Teachers”
(2004) Saban, Akbaşlı and Korkmaz stated that the preservice teachers have
some worries during their education concerning their teaching occupation in
the future. Those worries are specially related to the teaching job
responsibilities and students.
In their study, “The Opinions of Turkish Language and Literature
Teacher Candidates Concerning The Problems They Encounter in Education
Environments” (2008), Aslan and Güneyli stated that the new and experienced
teachers are having occupational depletion. Teachers don’t like their jobs; they
treat their students loveless, careless and brutally; they come to the class late
without getting prepared and having plan; they download plans from the
internet and they want to finish their lesson promptly and leave the class.

b. In the class where the teacher candidates practice, the teacher of that class is
at an important position. S/he has to be a good example for the candidate by
leading him/her to gain positive achievements. In his study, “The Problems of
The Teacher Candidates in Teaching Application Related to The Guidance of
Application Teacher and Application Education Member” (2005), Paker has
stated that it is a very important problem for the candidate teachers not to get a
detailed feedback from the application teachers and to get feedback such as
“good, not bad, it would be beter”. Most of the teacher candidates can’t get
adequate aid from the application teachers at the lesson planning stage. So they
are not able to improve themselves.

c. School Application is for the teachers and it is very important for their
improvement. For this reason, the satisfaction of the preservice teachers and
the factors influencing that must be firstly taken into consideration. In his
research, “The Outcome of New Arrangement Concerning the Management of
Teaching Application and Existing Problems” ( 2001), Can stated that school
directorship has got inadequacies in preparing necessary environment for
 9
teaching education and realizing its responsibilities concerning supervision.
The school director neglects his responsibilities, doesn’t consider that he has
any duties and doesn’t want to spend time for the education of the preservice
teachers.

d. The characteristic of the students in the application class is also important in

the education of preservice teachers. In their study, “Views and Experiences of
Prospective German Language Teachers on Practicum Courses” (2005)
Çetintaş and Genç stated that students behave candidate teachers differently
for the reason that the candidate teachers don’t have as the same authority as
the class teacher. They also stated that as far as the candidates sit at the back of
the class and share the same desks with the students, they are not considered as
the class teacher by the students. In addition, it is found out that as far as some
students are not accustomed to the speech, teaching style etc. of the candidates,
they do some other activities not related to the course in the class. All these
conditions influence the candidates’ perspective for the teaching profession
negative and their motivation decreases.
Another problem is that there are too many students in the class. As
compared to the developed countries, Turkey gets behind when the student
average per teacher is taken into account. When we look at the student numbers
per teacher in the primary education of some developed countries, it is 14 in
England, 13 in Germany, 10 in Italy, 13 in Portugal and 18 in Japan (Doğan,
2005). On the other hand, in Turkey, the average student numbers per teacher
is 32. The excess number of the students lead the candidate teachers to have
negative experiences (especially in the class management).

e. Sağlam and Sağlam (2000) specified that the preservice teachers have got
many problems due to the inadequacy of the communication and cooperation
between Education Faculties and Application Schools in Turkey. Selçuk (2000)
also stated that the absence of the communication between the candidate
teachers and their supervisors influence their (candidates) satisfaction negative.
Paker (2005) found out that supervisors don’t provide adequate and
necessary feedback for the candidates. He stated the following ascertainments:
 The academician doesn’t observe the lesson presentations of the
candidates adequately. So the frequency of getting feedback is very
low.
 Feedback is mostly based on the determination and correction of the
weak and missing aspects.
 The candidates have to prepare the next lesson after getting inadequate
or no feedback for their previous presentation.
 The academician doesn’t come to observe the candidate at the time (day
and hour) he confirms to come.
Akgün (2005) stated that due to the fact that the number of the qualified
academicians is not enough in the institutions where teachers are educated, the
candidates only learn the traditional education approaches. But they can’t find
any discussion environment about how the education applied and what kind of
problems occurs. Besides, they can not produce and propose any solutions.
 10
In his research, “Educating Teacher and Problems in Turkey” Türer
(2006) stated that the staff, who comes to the education faculties to educate
teachers, only take care of their MA and PhD. and they become educators
without being aware of what’s happening in the national education system,
school and class. So it is emphasized that a mass of teacher educators is created
who is stranger to the National Education System.

iv. Problems Related With Education Period

In his study, “The Views of The Teacher Candidates Concerning

Teaching Application” Oral (1997) stated that the training period is not enough
for a healthy teaching job education. In the research,
a. It is stated that the teacher candidates find the existing period of the teaching
job application inadequate. This period can be extended. Ten week period can
be extended to one year.
b. The candidates must recite more during the teaching job application. They
are required to recite 3 or 4 times; this number is very low.
c. It is observed that the extension of the evaluation period is beneficial for a
better evaluation of the teacher candidate by the class teacher and academician.

v. Problems Related With Technological Inadequacies

In their study, “The Prediction Factors of The Satisfaction of The

Teacher Candidates in the School Applications”, Şahin, Erdoğan and Aktürk
(2007) stated that the preservice teachers who observe the usage of the
education technologies get more pleasure from the school application. This
conclusion displays the necessity of the usage of the education technologies in
the schools. For this reason, the class teacher, the school director and the
academician have to use the education technologies effectively in order to be
good examples for the preservice teachers.
In their studies, Karamustafaoğlu and Akdeniz (2002) stated that in
Turkey the candidate teachers don’t find the possibility (aren’t provided by the
application school and teachers) to get the benefit of laboratory and education
technologies, to prepare evaluation material and to develop simple materials
during the teaching job education process.

6. Suggestions

The point we come at the end of this literature review is not an

unforeseen issue. The variables in teacher education should be analyzed
thoroughly considering the critical issues that literature points. As literature
suggests, there are some particular problems in the area of teacher education
programs. As Altan (1998) put forward, colleges of education should be valued
and appreciated in Turkey. Moreover college entrance examinations and
 11
licensure should be revised. Authors also put forward that mentors and
supervisors should be positive and ambitious to help the new teachers.
A body of research studies has been analyzed and a theoretical
framework has been written in order to suggest a further research or research
studies. Moreover, collaboration between teachers and researchers should be
encouraged in order to see the picture in a broader and apparent sense. Since
teachers are practitioners, they should be encouraged to participate these
research studies. Çepni and Küçük (2002) stated that teachers in Turkey are not
knowledgeable enough to conduct scientific researches and also have
insufficient skills in scientific writing (as cited in Sarı, 2006). Therefore
research methods as a must course should be provide to student teachers, and
also in-service programs should be designed to help students gain need skills
with respect to research methods. This will also lead to more reliable results
about teacher education.
According to the review of literature, some recommendations are
proposed below:
(a) Higher Education Council and Ministry of Education should
collaborate and organize the needed backgrounds for teachers
(b) Desired teacher qualifications should be overviewed and curriculum
should be revised if necessary
(c) Teacher preparation programs should be revised and more
opportunities for student teachers should be provided in order to let
them gain enough experience before they undertake teaching.
(d) Related regulations with hiring teachers should be governed by
competent authority.
(e) Research on teacher education should be encouraged.
Due to the theoretical framework for further studies, approach of
qualitative analysis is appropriate. Since the target population is extremely
high, cluster random sampling should be used to conduct such a study. These
studies should be conducted in every city, even in every district to collect more
data and have more meaningful results. Answers of the questions posed below,
aims to provide a start point to collect data about the current situation in
teacher education.
1. What are the opinions of preservice teachers about the problems of
teacher education in Turkey?
2. What can be done for making teachers more qualified in Turkey?
3. How students percept or interpret the competencies of teachers in
Turkey?
4. What is the role of education faculties and higher school curriculums in
teacher education?
5. Which problems are similar or different in teacher education programs
between the Turkey and European Union countries?
 12
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