Project Supported by Higher Education Institutions, Continues
"This study aims to examine the in-service needs of elementary teachers, who teach immigrant students, using “culturally relevant pedagogy” as a lens. To this end, the study will employ phenomenological research design as it seeks to investigate the phenomenon of interest by gaining insight into the world of several individuals based on their perspectives and lived experiences, and aims to reveal the deeper meanings and realities that they construct around those experiences. In this regard, the present study will evaluate in-service needs of elementary teachers, those who teach immigrant students in their classes, by exploring their perspectives and lived experiences regarding the education of immigrant students, based on “culturally relevant pedagogy” as a theoretical standpoint. The participants will nearly involve 30 to 35 in-service elementary teachers who will be selected through purposive sampling strategies. In particular, the study will utilize criterion and snowball sampling strategies. First, using criterion sampling, the public elementary schools that are located in the districts that have high populations of immigrant students will be determined in Ankara and Afyon. In identifying the elementary schools, school administrators will also be contacted to ensure that the particular school has a high number of immigrant students. Once the elementary schools are determined, then the elementary teachers who have immigrant students in their classes and thereby, have the experience of teaching immigrant students will be identified in each school with the help of the school principals. In doing so, the elementary teachers who have the highest number of immigrant students in their classes will be selected in the sample of the study. Throughout this process, the participants will also be selected by snowball sampling to make the participant selection process much easier by asking each participant whom else to talk with next. Regarding the data collection, as the phenomenological research suggests, to obtain descriptive data in participants’ own words and to uncover the perspectives of participants on the phenomenon of interest by entering into their world, the data will be collected through semi structured and in-depth interviews with elementary teachers via Zoom/Skype. Accordingly, a semi-structured interview schedule will be developed by the researchers, which will consist of both demographical and open-ended questions. After taking the opinions of experts, the instrument will be revised and piloted. The main data collection will be completed through April 2021 – June 2021. Each interview will nearly take 45-60 minutes. Depending on the permission and consent of the participants, all interviews will be audio-recorded. Using Nvivo 10 software, the data will be analyzed through content analysis method. To ensure trustworthiness of the present research, several strategies will be used to establish credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability of the study. The proposed study will be conducted and completed in 20 months. It is expected that the results will offer paramount implications for pre-service and in-service teacher education to address the holistic needs of elementary teachers to be able to educate immigrant students and thereby, break down barriers and build bridges between elementary teachers and immigrant students."