Abstract:

The purpose of this research is to determine the readiness level of teacher candidates for culturally relevant/responsive teaching. The research was designed in descriptive model. The research was carried out with 350 teacher candidates studying at the Faculty of Education of Gaziantep University in the 2019-2020 academic year, which was determined by the stratified sampling method. The "Culturally Relevant/Responsive Teaching Readiness Scale" developed by Karataş and Oral (2017) was used as a data collection tool in the study. Descriptive statistics, t-test and ANOVA were used in the analysis of the data. As a result of the research, it was determined that teacher candidates' culturally relevant/responsive teaching readiness levels were high, personal readiness levels were very high, and professional readiness levels were high. While the mean scores of the pre-service teachers from the culturally relevant/responsive readiness for education scale did not differ significantly according to gender, age and the place where most of their life was spent, it showed a significant difference according to the grade level and program variables. In the total scores obtained from the scale, there was a significant difference between the 2nd grade level and the 4th grade level in favor of the 4th grade level. In the sub-dimension of professional readiness, it was determined that there was a significant difference between the 2nd grade and the 4th grade in favor of the 4th grade level, and between the 3rd grade and the 4th grade in favor of the 4th grade teacher candidates. As a result of the Scheffe test, which is based on the variable of the program studied, it has been determined that there is a significant difference between the total score averages between English language education students and elementary education students in favor of English language education students, and between mathematics education students and Turkish education students in favor of Turkish education students. In the sub-dimension of personal readiness, it was determined that there was a significant difference between Turkish education students and mathematics education students in favor of Turkish education students, and between Turkish education students and Elementary education students in favor of Turkish education students. In the vocational preparation sub-dimension, there was a significant difference between English language education students and elementary education students in favor of English language education students, and between English language education students and mathematics education students in favor of English language education students. As a result of the study, it was suggested to include courses related to culturally relevant/responsive teaching in teacher education programs.

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