The Self-Awareness Scale for Anti-Bias Education: A Reliability and Validity Study

Abstract

As a result of the diversity of preschool education environments day by day, it has become inevitable for teachers to make some sensitive arrangements to meet the needs of children based on their differences. For this reason, it is important to determine the awareness of teachers about anti-bias education.This study aims to investigate the psychometric properties of the scale called The Self-Awareness Scale toward Anti-Bias Education and to assess preschool teachers’ self-awareness towards anti-bias education in Turkey. Before collecting data for first study, items were determined by benefiting from literature and getting opinions of field experts. 270 preschool teachers participated this study to test validity and reliability of the draft scale. Firstly, Exploratory Factor Analysis was applied and the KMO value of .840 and the Bartlett Test of Homogeneity (x2 = 794,814, p = 0.000) were found to be significant. The factor loadings of the items ranged from .75 to .48. The model fit indices were found as acceptable with Confirmatory Factor Analysis. As a result, 11 items were included in the created test scale. It was also decided that the scale would be in a 5-point Likert type. 120 preschool teachers participated to the second study and it was found that preschool teachers’ self-awareness for anti-bias education was high. In addition, their professional experiences have an effect on their awareness. Teachers who have more professional experiences have more positive self-awareness for anti-bias than teachers who have less professional experiences.

Keywords

• anti-bias education
• early childhood education
• preschool education
• self-awareness