Özet:

Unions, which can be regarded as one of the constitutive elements of democracy, are the pressure groups in political and social fields. Unions were born out of industrial confrontations and expanded into the field of public services over time, and thus teachers – who are also public employees-, also obtained the right to establish and affiliate to unions. In this research the views of union member and non-union member teachers on the most important functions and operational effectiveness of unions, teachers’ expectations from unions and teachers’ evaluation of the solidarity, competition and cooperation between unions were determined and the perspectives of teachers on unionization were revealed. qualitative research design was used. The data needed were collected through semistructured interviews from volunteering union member and non-union member teachers who were working in the primary and secondary schools in Ankara province and who were selected through “maximum variation sampling approach”. The data were then analyzed by using the content analysis technique. In conclusion, it was found that political ideology was the most important reason for membership of teachers’ unions. Protection and development of personal rights was found to be the most important function of teacher unions and unions were thought to be insufficient in performing those functions

Anahtar Kelimeler: