Vol. 11(16), pp.

1533-1541, 23 August, 2016

DOI: 10.5897/ERR2016.2787
Article Number: 55A0D0A60106
ISSN 1990-3839 Educational Research and Reviews
Copyright © 2016
Author(s) retain the copyright of this article
http://www.academicjournals.org/ERR

Full Length Research Paper

Relationship between philosophical preferences of

classroom teachers and their teaching styles
Emel Saritaş
Pamukkale University-Faculty of Education, Turkey.
Received 3 May, 2016; Accepted 4 July, 2016

The purpose of this study is to examine the philosophical preferences of classroom teachers, their
teaching styles and the relationship between the two variables. Participants are 301 volunteered
st nd rd th
classroom teachers who teach at the 1 , 2 , 3 and 4 classes in primary schools. To collect the data,
philosophical preferences assessment form which was developed by Wiles and Bondi (2007) and
adapted to Turkish by Doğanay and Sari (2003), and Teaching Styles Questionnaire which was
developed by Grasha and Reichmann (1994) and adapted to Turkish by Saritaş and Süral (2010) were
used. Analyses figure out that classroom teachers mostly prefer experimentalist philosophy and have
facilitator teaching style. Examining the relationship of educational philosophies and teaching styles of
teachers, there is a positive and significant relationship between the adopted educational philosophy
and teaching style.

Key words: Classroom teacher, educational philosophy, teaching style.

INTRODUCTION

The basic element of learning and teaching environments claim of justifying itself based on mind”; Jasper proposes
is the teacher. The teacher plans the learning and it as “being on road forever” (Arslan, 2014). Philosophy is
teaching process by considering the variables such as an effort of looking at life and its problems from an overall
instructional purposes, students’ characteristics and perspective (Ornstein, 1988: 25). Ertürk (1988) defines it
physical conditions, moreover his/her own skills, teaching as process and product. He stated that philosophy as a
styles and educational philosophy or philosophies. In this process is an effort to comprehend the reality and its
context, it is important to know about teachers’ teaching phenomenon in its integrity by gathering and reorganizing
styles and educational philosophies. all information. Furthermore, it is an effort to investigate
In general, philosophy is a field of knowledge the sources of information methods and values, what are
constructed as a result of systematic, deeply and they and their importance. Besides, philosophy as a
speculative thinking on the relation of human and the product is a total of “general beliefs, principles and
universe (Gutek, 2006: 2). While Kant identifies attitudes”, and values which philosophy as a process can
philosophy as “a form of intellectual activity which has a form and which human uses as a decision base.

E-mail: esaritas@pau.edu.tr.

Authors agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
License 4.0 International License
1534 Educ. Res. Rev.

Philosophy helps us to be interested in personal beliefs are important as it clarifies the concepts of good, truth
and values, understand who we are and the reason of and beauty (Özdemir et al., 2008, 223).
our existence and to some extent where we go. The perennialist curriculum is subject-centered. The
Philosophy is a total of connection process based on knowledge and the expertise of teachers cannot be
grounding the reality and products obtained at the end of questioned and they are accepted as the authorities.
this process (Demirel, 2005: 20). Just like philosophy is Moreover, the teacher should be the master of his/her
connected to all fields of science, they are connected to subject and the instruction, and direct the discussion.
philosophy as well. Education is the science which has a Instruction is mainly based on Socratic Method. The
close connection to philosophy in constructing a teacher should be a role model by means of oral speech,
theoretical base and as well as in its practices. According explanation and interpretation. The student will learn by
to Patel (1958), philosophy needs the clear and precise imitating the teacher (Ornstein, 1988; Sönmez, 2007;
expressions of education and education needs the Scoot, 1994).
guidance of philosophy (Doğanay and Sari, 2003).
Educational philosophy can be defined as a form of
applied philosophy which handles education in a Idealism
philosophical manner or methods (Cevizci, 2011: 11).
Educational philosophy studies the theoretical bases on It claims that reality is closely related to idea, thought and
which the available educational practices are based, and mind rather than the earthly power. According to the
criticize them. Educators can only reveal and solve the idealists, reality is idea, thought and soul. It does not
strength of theoretical foundations which they strictly hold accept the scientific method as the only way for reality;
and consider the best via a philosophical approach but assumes intuitional thought as important as the
(Fidan, 1987). scientific method.
Educational philosophies can be categorized differently In idealist educational philosophy, which expresses a
in terms of criteria undertaken in literature. As for a teacher centered approach, the teacher is required to
common classification, they are undertaken under four reveal the embedded knowledge in students’
titles named “perennialism, progressivism, essentialism subconscious and be a good role model both as morally
and reconstructivism” (Demirel, 2005; Fidan, 1987; and culturally. The subjects are in a hierarchical order
Saylan, 2009). In “Philosophical Preferences Assessment” and Socratic Method is adopted. The teacher is qualified
form which was developed by Wiles and Bondi (2007) and well-donated; order, discipline and authority is a
and adapted to Turkish by Doğanay and Sari (2003), matter of fact (Cevizci, 2011; Gutek, 2006; Ornstein,
there are five educational philosophies; perennialism, 1988; Terzi et al., 2003).
idealism, realism, experimentalism and existentialism. In
order to be consonant to the questionnaire, this study
also examines the philosophical approaches under these Realism
five categories.
The realists perceive the world in terms of subjects/
objects and substances. People can understand the
Perennialism world via senses and logic. The source of everything is
nature and formed by the rules of nature. According to
Perennialists emphasize on forming education according realism, the purpose of education is to make people
to certain universal realities. They think that the human happy by furnishing them the best and the most perfect
nature, moral values, reality and the truth are universal abilities. While it enlightens the students in fields of
phenomena (Demirel, 2005; Ercan, 2009; Fidan, 1987). knowledge, it also aims to develop the mind which is the
They claim that human nature is perennial. Human most important ability and power of human, and to
beings have the ability of questioning and understanding encourage what they want in their choices, expressing
the universal realities of nature. The purpose of education themselves with a perfect potential and identify their own
is to educate reasonable people by carefully training the identities (Gutek, 2006).
mind, to uncover the universal truth and to provide the In realism, which a teacher centered approach is
accordance with eternal truth not the reality of today adopted, a teacher is an instructor or educator rather
(Ercan, 2009; Gutek, 2006; Ornstein, 1988; Sönmez, than a scientist or researcher who is an expert in his/her
2007; Wiles and Bondi, 2007). As the truth is the same field, and knows the maximum required truth about the
everywhere, the education should be the same field. The teacher is a professional instructor in terms of
everywhere as well. Education is the preparation to life both expertise knowledge and instructional ability
not a copy of the life. It is defended that the ideal one (Cevizci, 2011). He/she provides students to gain certain
should be presented in educational settings, not the real knowledge and proficiency. Students are supposed to be
life itself (Arslan, 2012; Demirel, 2005; Ercan, 2009; ready to learn the required things and be eager to make
Sönmez, 2007). Perennialism indicates human sciences an effort (Özdemir et al., 2008: 216).
 Saritaş et al. 1535

Experimentalism functioning independently and creating a belief about

reality for students ( Arslanoğlu, 2012). Change in school
One of the pioneers of experimentalism is John Locke. environments would be embraced as both a natural and
According to Locke, mind is like a white paper or blank necessary phenomenon. Nonschooling and an
slate that nothing is in and on before the experiment and individually determined curriculum would be a possibility
all sources of knowledge come from observation and the (Wiles and Bondi, 2007: s. 45).
data in mind as a result of the usage of senses. In short, The subject matter of education and philosophy is
there is no innate knowledge in human mind and the human. The viewpoint for human can affect all the
source and tool of all kind of knowledge is the experiment components of education. In other words, human is
(Arslan, 2012: 72). Another pioneer who comes to mind handled and education is organized according to this
first for experimentalism is John Dewey. For Dewey, viewpoint (Sönmez, 2009). Teacher employs an
thinking and action cannot be separated and thought is educational philosophy when he/she starts to think on
incomplete without realization. Basic thinking involves the concepts and knowledge of human nature and society
problems which a person encounters and solves by (Gutek, 2006). Educational philosophy is a discipline of
scientific method. Problem solving is as well a social philosophy which discusses education, and questions
process as an individual phenomenon. As sharing is and solves the concepts and practices of education (
more, the opportunities of development are greater as Cevizci, 2011: 11). Educational philosophy helps the
well (Gutek, 2006). educator and the teachers to comprehend education with
Experimentalism which is based on pragmatism helps its all aspects. The meaning and the importance of
human to improve his/her environment and adaptation to educational practices can only be possible by a clear
environment. It accepts change as the base of reality and thinking system that the philosophy provides (Fidan,
assumes that education is continuously improving. The 1987). Additionally, philosophy provides a structure and a
child should be active in educational settings which are base for organizing school and classroom settings for
organized according to his/her interests. Knowledge, educators. It helps to understand what the schools are
which is an important tool for gaining, improving and for, which subjects are valuable, how the students learn
regulation of the experiences, should be obtained with and which methods and strategies are used (Demirel,
interaction and is dependent on the interests of the child. 2005). Teaching styles have a key role to organize the
The responsibility of the teacher is to guide students. learning and teaching process as a reflection of
School should encourage students to collaborate rather educational philosophy adopted by the teacher (Gencel,
than race in democratic school environments; what is 2013: 644).
more school is the most appropriate environment for Grasha (1994, 2002)I who explains learning and
learning (Demirel, 2005; Ergün, 2003; Gutek, 2006). teaching process as an interaction between students and
teachers, which defines teaching styles as the continuity
and consistency of teachers’ behaviors and approaches
Existentialism in this process; and moreover a personal model that the
requirements, beliefs and behaviors of the teachers
The existentialist sees the world in terms of personal construct. According to Dunn (1979), teaching styles are
subjectivity. Goodness, truth and reality are individually attitudes and behaviors of teachers towards instructional
defined. Reality is a world of existing, truth is subjectively programs, methods, settings and equipment. Fisher and
chosen and goodness is a matter of freedom (Wiles and Fisher (1979) define teaching styles as instructional
Bondi, 2007: s. 45). The basic foundation of existentialist behaviors which a teacher consistently displays in
philosophy is that a person has a freedom of choice by teaching process. How the teacher presents knowledge
defining him/herself (Gutek, 2006: 133). Existentialists in learning and teaching process, how they interact with
give importance to human. In existentialism, education is students and their behaviors about students’ socialization
an activity which provides an individual to experience are all the reflections of their teaching styles (Üredi,
success, failure, ugliness, beauty, struggle and pain 2007). In addition, a teaching style refers to how the
without exaggerating but honestly (Sönmez, 2007, 81). teacher behaves with students while teaching, not who
Education should enable a person to identify his/herself the teacher is. For instance, how a teacher asks
with his/her real characteristics. In teacher-students questions, how he/she uses his/her voice, how he/she
interaction, the responsibility of the teacher is to help addresses the students, how he/she makes exams, how
students to learn and know themselves (Fidan, 1987; he/she moves inside the classroom and presents his/her
Wiles and Bondi, 2007). ideas. These are all observable behaviors of teachers,
According to Alkan (1983), a good existentialist teacher not the personal qualifications such as IQ (Hyman and
does not aim to train copy personalities. He/she tries to Rosoff, 1984).
balance the content and student, and be sensible to In literature, teaching styles are classified differently
students. An existentialist teacher makes an effort for such as; instructor, problem solver, consultant (Broudy,
three purposes: processing the content, mind’s 1972); the behaviorist, the structualist, the functionalist,
1536 Educ. Res. Rev.

the humanist (Bromstrom, 1975); field-dependent, field- questions, to develop choices, to present alternatives, to
independent (Witkin, 1979); task-oriented, cooperative encourage students about developing the scientific
planner, child centered, subject centered, learning criteria that they have constructed. His/her main purpose
centered, emotionally exiting (Fischer 1979); educational is to develop students’ performance which is for initiative
philosophy, student preferences, instructional planning, and responsibility in their personal activities.
student groupings, room design, teaching environment,
teaching characteristics, teaching methods, evaluation Delegator: He/she is interested in improving the
techniques (Dunn 1979); concrete-sequential, abstract- students’ capacity by independently doing his/her
sequential, abstract-random, concrete-random (Butler, responsibility. In the courses of teachers who have this
1984); the command style, the practice style, the style, students study independently in projects or as a
reciprocal style, the self-check style, the inclusion style, part of independent teams. The teacher interferes when
the guided discovery style, the convergent discovery the students ask them as a source person. Teaching
style, the divergent discovery style, the learner-designed style refers to distinctive properties which is consistent in
individual program style, the learner-initiated style, the time and transferred from situation to situation (Fischer
self-teaching style (Mosston and Ashworth, 1986); the 1979). According to Heimlich and Norland (1994)
information processing models, the personal models, the teaching style includes philosophical practices in which
social-interaction models, the behavior modification there are attitudes, values, beliefs, teaching and all
models (Joyce and Weil, 1986); expert, provider, elements in students’ change (Fries, 2012). Fritz (2008)
facilitator, enabler (Heimlich and VanTilburg, 1990); quoted from Kauchak and Eggen (2011) and Elias and
directive, authoritative, tolerant and authoritative, tolerant, Merrium (1995) that educational philosophy provides a
uncertain and tolerant, uncertain and aggressive, framework for teachers to think on a variety of ideas,
repressive, drudging (Brekelmans, Levy and Rodirguez, beliefs, actions and educational matters which guide
1993); disseminator-transmitter, lecturer-dramatist, them. Heimlich and Norland (1994) expressed that
inducer/persuader, inquirer/catalyst, facilitator/ guide teachers’ beliefs about how learning and teaching should
(Reinsmith, 1994); assertive, suggestive, collaborative, contribute to their skills. Teachers who knows their
facilitative (Quirk, 1994); expert, formal authority, beliefs, regulate their behaviors and balance the two
personal, facilitator, delegator (Grasha, 1996); teacher- skills gain the experience of freedom; furthermore,
oriented, student-oriented (Levine, 1998); planner, explore experiences that they have never lived before,
formal, ongoing, attractive (Evans, 2004) (Altay, 2009: reflect these experiences, practice and improve them
47). (Fritz, 2008).
As the “teaching style” instrument which was developed The philosophy which is constructed by these views and
by Grasha (1996) was used in this research, the teaching beliefs guides the teacher in determining purposes,
styles are examined in five categories: regulating learning-teaching settings and choosing an
evaluation method (Ediger, 2000). Educational philosophy
Expert: He/she has the required experience and would affect the roles of teachers and students in the
knowledge for the students. He/she pays attention to classroom, how curriculum is developed and evaluated,
preserve his/her status as an experienced person who which methods and techniques will be used and the
develops his/her students’ abilities and present his/her factor of educational beliefs of teachers in society (Fritz,
extended knowledge. He/she is interested in knowledge 2008). The philosophy undertaken determines the view
transfer and training better students. for human and educational system is organized
according to this view (Sönmez, 2007).
Formal authority: In terms of his/her knowledge and Livingston (2001) narrated from Kagan (1995), Gutek
role, he/she is like a college teacher for his/her students. (1995) and Burbles (1989) that every classroom teacher
He/she has a characteristic that has his/her own rules, has different views on the framework of educational
expectations and purposes, reinforces students facilities provided for school and students. Therefore,
depending on the situation and does not hesitate to give every teacher has an educational philosophy because
negative feedback under any unwilling circumstances. “aims, behaviors, content, learning and evaluation
process should be arranged according to the criteria of
Personal: He/she believes in instruction of personal the adopted philosophy” (Sönmez, 2009).
examples, constructing a basic model about how they In this research, it is aimed to reveal which educational
should be thought and behave. He/she encourages philosophy the classroom teachers adopt, which teaching
students to follow their way, supervise them on what they style they have and is there any relationship between
should do, guides and manages them. them. In this context, the following research questions
were asked:
Facilitator: He/she emphasizes teacher-student
relationship as a very natural personal characteristic. 1. What are the educational philosophies adopted by
His/her guidance and course management is to ask classroom teachers?
 Saritaş et al. 1537

2. Which teaching style do the classroom teachers have? FINDINGS

3. Is there any relationship between the educational
philosophies and teaching styles of classroom teachers? This research is aimed at revealing the educational
philosophies adopted by classroom teachers, teaching
styles that they have and the relationship between the
METHODOLOGY two variables. The following findings were reached in
terms of these purposes.
As quantitatively designed, this research is a model of survey in
terms of determining the educational philosophies and teaching
styles of classroom teachers, in other words, searching and
explaining the existing situation. It is a general survey model Educational philosophies adopted by classroom
because it foretells and generalize about the universe in the light of teachers
data gathered, and a relational survey model because it examine
the relationship between the educational philosophies and teaching Educational philosophies that the classroom teachers
styles of teachers.
adopt were displayed in Table 1. Of the teachers, 51.1%
adopt experimentalism, 16.2% adopt idealism, 12.9%
Participants adopt existentialism, 12.6% adopt realism and 6.9%
adopt perennialism. In other words, more than half of the
The study group has volunteered 301 classroom teachers who teachers believe that education is a continuous change
teach the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th classes in primary schools. Of the
and because of that students should be active in
participants, 112 are male and 189 are female. 45 teachers have
the seniority of 1-10 years, 77 of them 11-20 years, 130 of them 21- educational settings which are organized according to
30 years and 49 of them 30 years and above. their interests. The teacher’s responsibility is to guide the
students.
Instruments
Teaching styles adopted by classroom teachers
As a data collection tool, for philosophical views of classroom
teachers “Philosophical Preferences Assessment” form which was
developed by and adopted to Turkish by Doğanay and Sari (2003) Table 2 displays the teaching styles that the classroom
was used. As a 5 likert type and 40 items questionnaire, it has an teachers have. Majority of teachers (54.8%) have
inter reliability coefficient of 0.81. The items 6, 8, 10, 13, 15, 31, 34 facilitator teaching style. Of the teachers, 19.6% have
and 37 indicate perennializm; 9, 11, 19, 21, 24, 27, 29 and 33 delegator, 17.6% have expert, 4.7% have personal and
indicate idealism; 4, 7, 12, 20, 22, 23, 26 and 28 indicate realism; 2,
3, 14, 17, 25, 35, 39 and 40 indicate experimentalism, and 1, 5, 16,
3.3% have formal authority teaching style respectively.
18, 30, 32, 36 and 38 indicate existentialism. For every
philosophical view, the lowest score is 8, the highest score is 40. In
research, the philosophical view which has the highest scores is Relationship between educational philosophies and
accepted to determine the classroom teachers’ philosophies. teaching styles of classroom teachers
The other instrument is Teaching Style Questionnaire which was
developed by Gracha and Reichmann (1994) and adopted to The third research question is “Is there any relationship
Turkish by Saritaş and Süral (2010). As a five likert type and 40
item questionnaire, it has five dimensions every one of which has
between the educational philosophies adopted by
eight items. In the adaptation study, Pearson correlation coefficient classroom teachers and their teaching styles?” To
of the questionnaire was found to be .80, and Cronbach alpha was answer this question, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was
.87. The items 1, 6, 11, 16, 21, 26, 31 and 36 indicate expert; 2, 7, conducted in order to determine whether the variables
13, 17, 22, 27, 32 and 37 indicate formal authority; 3, 8, 13, 18, 23, were normally distributed.
28, 33 and 38 indicate personal; 4, 9, 14, 19, 24, 29, 29, 34 and 39
According to the findings, all variables have higher than
indicate facilitator; and 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 indicate
delegator teaching styles. Gracha defines teaching styles as “low”, .05 p values, and this indicates that they have a normal
“medium” and “high”. distribution.
In the process of data analysis and determination of teaching Correlation analysis was used to examine the
styles, a program on the web site was used relationship between the variables. Correlation
(http://www.iats.com/publications/GLSI.html). The data was entered coefficient’s being 1.00 stands for an excellent positive
to the program and all scores belonging to five teaching styles were
calculated in the levels of “low”, “medium” and “high”. In this
relation; -1.00 stands for an excellent negative relation;
research, high levels were considered to determine the teaching 0.00 shows that there is no relation. In interpretation of
styles of teachers. correlation coefficient in terms of magnitude, there are
not exactly common intervals; however, it should be
noted that the following limits can frequently be used in
Data analysis interpretation of correlation. The correlation coefficient’s
being between 0.70-1.00 as an absolute value can be
In order to determine the educational philosophies and teaching
styles of classroom teachers, frequency and percentage were used, described as high level relation; its being between 0.70-
and correlation analysis was used for the relationship between 0.30 can be described as medium level relation, its being
educational philosophies and teaching styles. lower than 0.30 and can be described as a low-level
1538 Educ. Res. Rev.

Table 1. Educational philosophies adopted by classroom teachers.

Philosophies f %
Perennialism 21 6.9
Idealism 49 16.2
Realism 38 12.6
Experimentalism 154 51.1
Existentialism 39 12.9
Total 301 100

Table 2. Teaching style adopted by classroom teachers.

Teaching style f %
Expert 53 17.6
Formal Authority 10 3.3
Personal 14 4.7
Facilitator 165 54.8
Delegator 59 19.6
Total 301 100

Table 3. K-S test of Teaching style and educational philosophy variables.

Kolmogorov - Smirnov
Parameter
Statistic df Sig.
Expert Teaching Style 0.165 301 0.155
Formal Authority Teaching Style 0.188 301 0.199
Personal Teaching Style 0.122 301 0.274
Facilitator Teaching Style 0.111 301 0.203
Delegator Teaching Style 0.163 301 0.185
Perennialism 0.102 301 0.166
Idealism 0.136 301 0.138
Realism 0.130 301 0.147
Experimentalism 0.137 301 0.196
Existentialism 0.114 301 0.167

relation (Büyüköztürk, 2004). Table 3 displays the authority (r= 0.512). In this respect, there is a medium
relationship between educational philosophies and and positive relationship between the educational
teaching styles of classroom teachers. philosophy of idealism and authoritarian teaching style.
Examining Table 4, there is a significant relationship The significant relationship between idealism and
between the educational philosophies and teaching styles authoritative teaching style (p= 0.000) supports this
of teachers. Considering the teaching styles of teachers relation, as well. As for the teachers who adopt realism,
who adopt perennialist philosophy, the highest level of the highest level of relation is also with authoritative
relationship is with authoritarian teaching style (r=0.479). teaching style (r= 0.578). So the educational philosophy
Accordingly, there is a medium level of positive of realism is moderately and positively connected to the
relationship between perennialism and authoritarian teaching style of formal authority. The significant
teaching style. The significant relationship between relationship between realism and authoritative teaching
perennialism and authoritative teaching style (p= 0.000) style (p= 0.000) supports this relation, as well.
supports this relation, as well. Considering the teaching styles of teachers who adopt
The highest level of association with teaching styles of experimentalist philosophy, the highest level of
teachers who adopt idealism is the style of formal relationship is with personal teaching style (r=0.571).
 Saritaş et al. 1539

Table 4. The relationship between educational philosophies and teaching styles adopted by teachers.

Expert Authority Personal Facilitator Delegator

** ** ** ** **
Pearson Correlation .421 .479 .331 .211 .289
PERENNIALISM Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 301 301 301 301 301
** ** ** ** **
Pearson Correlation .437 .512 .405 .136 .196
IDEALISM Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 301 301 301 301 301
** ** ** ** **
Pearson Correlation .339 .578 .452 .175 .169
REALISM Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 301 301 301 301 301
** ** ** ** **
Pearson Correlation .123 .201 .571 .532 .479
EXPERIMENTALISM Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 301 301 301 301 301
** ** ** ** **
Pearson Correlation .101 .105 .432 .487 .579
EXISTENTIALISM Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 301 301 301 301 301
** Correlation is significant at 0.01 level (2-tailed).

There is a medium and positive relationship between As for the teaching styles of classroom teachers, they
experimentalism and personal teaching style. The have facilitator, delegator, expert, personal and formal
significant relationship between experimentalism and authority teaching styles respectively. Grasha (1996)
personal teaching style (p= 0.000) supports this relation, classified the teaching styles as teacher-centered,
as well. The teachers adopting existentialism have the student-centered and both teacher and student centered.
highest level of relation with facilitator teaching style (r= Authoritarian and expert teachers are teacher-centered;
0.579). Thereby, there is a medium and positive facilitator and delegator teachers are student-centered;
relationship between existentialism and facilitator teaching and personal teachers are both teacher and student
style. The significant relationship between existentialism centered. Findings point out majority of teachers has
and facilitator teaching style (p= 0.000) supports this student-centered teaching styles. This is supported by
relation, as well. the findings of many other research such as Maden
(2012), Üredi (2011), Bilgin and Bahar (2008), Efilti and
Çoklar (2013), Şentürk and İkikardeş (2011), Saracalioğlu
DISCUSSION et al. (2010), Süral (2013), Lucas (2005), Labillois (2015),
Lester Short (2001), Larenas et al. (2011). Findings
As for the educational philosophies of classroom suggested that most of the teachers have convenient
teachers, they adopt experimentalism, idealism, exis- teaching styles indicated in the primary school
tentialism, realism and perennialism respectively. This curriculum. On the other hand findings also reveal that
finding is consistent with the findings of other studies that they have expert and formal authority teaching styles
are Doğanay and Sari (2010), Kanatli and Schreglman meaning that 21% of the teachers have teacher-centered
(2014), Duman (2008), Çoban (2002), Aslan (2014), teaching styles. Mendoza (2004), Faruji (2012) and
Livingston et al. (2001). Student-centered approach is at Saracaloğlu et al. (2010) also found that teachers prefer
the focus of experimentalism and existentialism. Findings teacher-centered styles more. Constructivist approach
indicate that teachers adopt a student-centered approach, was adopted in curricula during the reform process in
have the perspective which gives students the opportunity 2004-2005 academic years, and the reflection of this
of constructing their own knowledge, encourages them to approach is observed in the research results. According
search and investigate. The ongoing primary school to the constructivist approach, teacher guides the
curriculum also refers to the teacher properties as guiding learning and teaching process, organizes the learning
the learning and teaching process and training students environment and plans the evaluation activities
as individuals that search, question, wonder and be (Postlethwaite, 1993). The constructivist teacher is not
interested in their environments (Yetkin and Daşcan, the authority but an observer in the classroom (Şaşan,
2010). 2002). Majority of teachers adopts students-centered
1540 Educ. Res. Rev.

approach. Being in the transition and improvement these categories, the expert teaching style appears in all
process, the 21% of the teachers still adopt a teacher- groups. Although, the teachers locate the students at the
centered perspective. Their teaching styles are thought to centre and encourage them to be active, there may be
change in time. some cases that they should transfer something. At least,
For the third research question, the relationship they present their own knowledge and then guide the
between the educational philosophies and teaching styles students.
of classroom teachers was analyzed. Findings indicate a Findings of the existing research are also supported by
significant relationship between the educational the research of Fritz (2008) and Fries (2012). Fritz (2008)
philosophies that the teachers adopt and teaching styles found that teachers prefer behaviorist approach in their
of them. Teachers who adopt “perennialism, idealism and teaching styles. In the study conducted by Fries (2012),
realism” have a medium and positive relationship with the participants adopt progressivism most and have the
authoritarian teaching style. Moreover, these three collaborative and student-centered teaching styles.
educational philosophies are associated to “expert and Snyder (2006) studied with two teachers and found that
personal” teaching styles. In perennialist, idealist and while one of the teachers adopt student-centered philo-
realist philosophies, a teacher is well-trained, expert in sophy and teaching style, the other one adopt student-
his/her field, an authority and a professional instructor. centered philosophy but teacher-centered teaching style.
Therefore, he/she is at the centre of learning and Classroom teachers adopt experimentalist philosophy in
teaching environments. Teachers are also masters of the general and have the facilitator teaching style. That
subject in authoritarian and expert teaching styles, and means they have a student-centered perspective in
they prefer a teacher-centered perspective in learning learning and teaching environments. The positive
and teaching environments. reflections of constructivist approach which has been
Findings also suggest that teachers adopting implemented in primary schools can be observed in this
“experimentalism” are related to the teaching styles of respect. Nevertheless, there are still teachers who have
“personal” and “facilitator and delegator” in a moderate teacher-centered teaching styles and are authoritarian
level. In experimentalism, the responsibility of the teacher since the implementation of this program for 11 years. In-
is to guide the students. Students are supposed to be service trainings can focus on the awareness of this
active participants and interact in learning and teaching issue. After primary schools, constructivist approach has
environments. In this respect, the teacher is required to been reflected to elementary and high school curricula as
conduct strategies, methods and techniques which focus well. Future research might be conducted in these levels
on student. Similarly, teachers having personal, facilitator of education.
and delegator teaching styles guide students according to
their interests, encourage them to take responsibilities
and take part in projects individually or in group, and Conflict of Interests
consult teacher when they need. Under these
circumstances, students should be encouraged to be The author has not declared any conflict of interests.
active and at the centre of the learning and teaching
process.
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