Democratic Faculty of Education for Democratic Education

Abstract

The aim of the research is to reveal opinions of prospective teachers on democratic education and democratic behaviors of teaching staff at the universities, based on opinions of both university prospective teachers and teaching staff. Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used together. The sample of the study consists of 37 teaching staff and 152 senior students at the departments of Primary School Education, Science Education, Religious Culture and Ethics Education. To articulate the prospective teachers’ opinions about democracy and democratic education, a semi-structured interview form and a questionnaire were developed to see their self-efficacy. The "Democratic Classroom Management Scale" was used to collect data for self-evaluation of the teaching staff's democratic behavior in the classroom. It was also adapted for the prospective teachers. Content analysis technique was used in analysis of the qualitative data. SPSS package program was used in analysis of quantitative data. In addition to frequency and percentage calculations, t test and ANOVA analyses were made. The study showed that the teaching staff considers their classroom practices democratic. However, the prospective teachers perceive the teaching staff moderately democratic. They, however, believe that they will grasp highly democratic attitudes in the class when they begin to teach.