A Study on the Relationships between Teachers’ Critical Thinking Dispositions and Their Perceptions of Occupational Professionalism

Abstract

The purpose of this descriptive study is to explore the relationships between teachers’ critical thinking dispositions and their perceptions of occupational professionalism. The sample of the study has consisted of 242 teachers specified from the population of upper-secondary school teachers working in Mentese, Mugla, Turkey. The data of the study were collected through the administration of the UF/EMI Critical Thinking Dispositions Assessment scale and the Teachers’ Occupational Professionalism scale. In the analysis of the data, descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA and multiple regression analysis were employed. The results of the study revealed that: (1) Teachers have a high level of critical thinking disposition which does not significantly change for the variables of gender, school type or seniority, but it does for education level; (2) Teachers have a high level perception of their own professionalism within professional awareness and emotional labor dimensions of occupational professionalism. They have a moderate level perception of their own professionalism within contribution to organization and personal development dimensions of occupational professionalism. Their total perception scores do not sinificantly change for the veriables of gender, education, school type or seniority. (3) The dimensions of critical thinking dispositions of teachers together predict a significant part of their occupational professionalism perceptions. In short teachers’ critical thinking dispositions seem to be an important component of teacher professionalism.

Keywords

• critical thinking
• critical thinking dispositions
• teacher professionalism
• occupational professionalism