Teacher Concerns towards the Fatih Project in Education

ABSTRACT

Developments in the field of knowledge and technology are affecting education systems. Most of the research regarding educational use of technology emphasize the importance of integration of information and communication technologies to the learning-teaching process. Since 1984 where Turkey’s efforts started on technology integration, various projects established for this purpose. Announced in 2010, The FATIH Project in Education (Increasing Opportunities and Technological Improvement Movement) is the most recent and the most extensive project of Turkey in this direction. One of the most important roles in the FATIH Project in Education is on teachers who are the main practitioners and playing a key role in this process. Beginning from the implementation of the FATIH Project in Education some difficulties are encountered by teachers. These difficulties are thought to have created some concerns in teachers. The main objective of this study is to define the views and concerns of classroom teachers regarding the FATIH Project in Education and to propose solutions for overcoming these concerns. Qualitative research design is used in the study. The study group of this research is classroom teachers who serve in primary schools in the academic year of 2015-2016 in Çanakkale.  Purposeful sampling method and semi-structured interview form is used to collect data. Results showed that teachers have both positive and negative point of view regarding to project. Teacher concerns regarding the implementation of the FATIH Project in Education are named as; (1) concerns about classroom management, (2) concerns about technology use, (3) concerns about technological infrastructure support, (4) concerns about the educational content, (5) concerns about the students, and (6) concerns about the parents.