Abstract:

This study aims to determine teacher candidates’ perceptions about the Public Personnel Selection Examination (KPSS) and the reflections of this exam on their views of teaching profession and the content of undergraduate courses and social lives. In this study, qualitative research methods and semi-structured interviews were used. The study group consists of 47 teacher candidates graduated from Uşak University Department of Primary Class, Social Studies Education and Turkish Language Teaching in 2011 and entered the KPSS in the same year. During the interviews with participants who accept audio recordings, sound recordings were made. The notes were also written during the interviews with the participants who do not accept audio recordings. Then the sound recordings, descriptive writing and content analysis were performed by pouring over all the data. However, direct quotations were given to reflect the original views and opinions. These applications may be considered to increase the reliability and validity of research data. Teacher candidates reported that KPSS was not an appropriate examination to select a qualified teacher. Moreover, they said that this exam had adversely reflections on their environmental communication, social relationships and artistic, cultural and sporting activities. Teacher candidates suggest that both a verbal and written examination process should be applied instead of KPSS and permanent teachers should be assigned instead of teachers working for course fee.

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