Abstract:

This study is a qualitative study which was aimed to investigate whether the classroom teaching undergraduate program which was changed in 2018 and started to be applied to undergraduate 1st year students in 2018-2019 academic year meet the professional needs of the prospective teachers. The data were collected from class teachers working in state and foundation schools between the years of 2016-2018 and from 4th grade students in the department of classroom teaching. The data of the study were collected through open-ended questionnaire and semi-structured interview form prepared by the researcher and transformed into findings by descriptive analysis. The newly-changed classroom teaching program seems to meet the professional needs of classroom teachers and prospective teachers. The majority of the courses they wish to be added are included in the elective course pool. Removing the lessons such as General Physics, General Chemistry, General Biology and History of Civilization from the new program has been realized according to the expectation of the participants. Beginning the field education courses in the first year is important in preparing the teacher and prospective teacher for the profession and in recognizing the profession. The subject they criticized in the new program is the removing of the “School Experience” course in the third year. For the participants who want to take the internship program from the first year, the only situation that does not meet the Professional needs is that the internship is only in the last year. The expectations of classroom teachers and prospective teachers at the stage of implementation of the new program are; designing the course contents in a way to realize the compliance of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education; having practice weighted courses; having the experience of teaching in academicians.

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