Beginning Early Childhood Education Teachers' Problems in Turkey

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explain problems of beginning early childhood education teachers in Turkey and how could teacher education programs be improved in order to reduce these difficulties. The general complaints of a novice teacher, mostly, resulted from the discrepancy between the teacher training and the actual teaching experience. Another problem that beginning teachers might encounter originated from regional differences. In some parts, beginning teachers find themselves in a situation that they have to teach children who cannot speak Turkish. Finally, most of the provincial universities are struggling with lack of qualified academic staff. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.