Novice and experienced teachers' strategies for teaching mathematics in English and Turkish primary classrooms

摘要

The aim of this study was to focus on experienced and novice teachers' strategies for teaching mathematics in English and Turkish primary classrooms and to look at the implications for Turkish teacher training programmes. Therefore, both experienced and novice teachers' strategies were examined and compared in the two countries.;Teachers who work in primary schools in Leicester were used as experienced teachers and PGCE students were used as novices in UK. In Turkey, similarly teachers who work in primary schools were used as experienced teachers whereas B.Ed students were used as novices. Questionnaires were administered to a sample of 169 teachers: 41 primary teachers, 45 PGCE students in England and 44 teachers and 39 B.Ed students in Turkey. The questionnaire consisted of questions about teachers' personal characteristics an the strategies/techniques they used for teaching mathematics. There were closed and open-ended questions in the questionnaire. Also, six teachers were observed: two experienced teachers and two PGCE students in UK and two experienced teachers in Turkey. For this observation, a schedule was used involving sub-headings such as time, teacher's position and teacher's strategies.;The findings of the study revealed that open-ended questions and observations supported the responses given to closed questions. It was found that there were generally more similarities between experienced English teachers and PGCE students in using techniques and strategies than there were between experienced Turkish teachers and B.Ed students. The results of the study also indicated that both groups of teachers in UK used more child-centred teaching techniques such as investigation, discussion and problem solving whereas Turkish teachers used more teacher-centred ones such as exposition and demonstration.;The results highlighted that more teaching practice is needed in Turkish teacher training programmes, and that more practical method courses rather than theory-based ones are needed for shifting towards to the new system.