American, German and Turkish Classroom Teachers’ Opinions about Character Education: A Cross-Cultural Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52963/PERR_Biruni_V11.N3.1Keywords:
Character education, Comparative character education, Values education, Cross cultural studyAbstract
The purpose of this survey research is to analyze and compare the views of classroom teachers on character education in Turkey, Germany and the U.S. In this study, in which descriptive survey method was used, data were collected from 419 teachers from three countries with questionnaire forms. The data were subjected to descriptive analysis. It was determined that character education is influenced by many factors such as family education level, media, internet, social and physical context, and that teachers in all three countries have similar views, only American teachers think differently that "social and physical context" is more important. Character education is mostly practiced in the USA, and to a lesser extent in Germany and Turkey. Teachers of three countries believe that Life & Social studies are the most important lessons that contribute character education. However, character education should be integrated with other curricula with an interdisciplinary approach preferably. Various resources such as meetings, in-school posters, books and thematic projects are used in character education and American teachers use these resources more than other teachers. According to participants, techniques such as observation, interviews, and questionnaires may be used to determine whether character education goals have been achieved. It is seen that the majority of teachers in all three countries are not sure about the possibility to achieve the goals of character education. It may be stated that teachers do not have a very high level of belief in the level of realization of character education goals. According to German teachers, values are less important, but values are acquired at a similar rate, and for Turkish teachers values are very highly important, but not realized at the expected level. In conclusion, the views of teachers from different countries on character education have similar and different aspects.
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