Effect of undergraduate education on the educational philosophies of prospective teachers: A longitudinal study

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the change occurred in educational philosophies of prospective teachers in the process of a four-year undergraduate education. This study was designed as a longitudinal panel study. The sample of the study consists of 323 prospective teachers from Çukurova University Faculty of Education. In analyzing the data gathered by means of Philosophy Preference Assessment Form, one-way ANOVA for repeated measures and two-way ANOVA for mixed measures were used.  According to the results, while there was a decrease in the perennialism and idealism, there was an increase in existentialism philosophical understandings of the prospective teachers from the 1st year towards the 4th year; and there were no significant changes in other philosophical understandings.