An Investigation of The Relationship Between Preservice Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Graduate Education and Academic Motivations

Abstract

The aim of this research is to examine the relationship between preservice teachers’ attitudes towards graduate education and their academic motivations. The correlational survey model, which is one of the quantitative research methods, has been used in the research. The sample of the research consists of 864 preservice teachers studying at Atatürk University Kazım Karabekir Faculty of Education in Erzurum, Türkiye. “Scale for Attitude Towards Graduate Studies” and “Academic Motivation Scale” have been used as data collection tools in the research. In the analysis of the data, descriptive statistics, Mann Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis test have been used. It is understood that the participating preservice teachers generally express positive views on the items of the attitude scale towards graduate education and their academic motivations are high. Among the variables, significant differences are found according to gender, department and grade level. Significant differences are also found out in the attitudes towards graduate education and academic motivations of preservice teachers’ education in favour of female preservice teachers. As a result, a positive and significant relationship between preservice teachers’ attitudes towards graduate education and their academic motivations is detected. Thanks to the research results, the reasons for lack of motivation of students in higher education institutions can be investigated and it can be a guide for the prospective studies that can make a difference in the attitudes of students who have negative attitudes towards graduate school.