Journal of Higher Education and Science

135-141

Authors: Ömer AÇIKGÖZ

Due to the strong relationship between economic development and the development of human and social capital, we will have a philosophical discussion on the educational roots of economic and social shortcomings in this article. To this end, firstly, the concepts of economic and social shortcoming will be discussed. Later the roots of modern education paradigm will be addressed and what kind of education paradigm we are in need of will be debated. Finally, some suggestions regarding the improvement of education system for a more productive society will be put forward along with a general discussion.

151-162

Authors: Osman SİVRİKAYA

During recent years, “the occupational health and safety” topic, which has gained importance in different countries in the world, has got attention in Turkey as well. The importance of human life and health is being increased in the world especially in the developed countries. As a result of this, in order to prevent the work accidents involving death or personal injury in the work life, the importance of the “occupational health and safety” is increasing gradually. In Turkey, the regulation studies are being carried out on this topic with the successive regulations especially during recent years. The application aspect of the topic, which is related to employers on the occasion of legal liabilities in accordance with the regulations, and for the graduates who are seeking for a job and especially want to be occupational safety specialists, it is popular from the point of view to be hope for a job. However, due to the difficulties to follow the rapidly changing developments, efficient awareness about the topic is not possible. It is possible that to get true and current information about the topic is possible by showing necessary sensitivity about occupational health and safety education. The graduates from different departments wonder the topics such as what is “occupational health and safety” education and “what kind of an education is necessary to become an occupational safety specialist”. Hence, in this article, by giving current information about occupational health and safety education and their content in the higher education institutions in Turkey, the points, which have had improvements compared to the past, are considered, and certain suggestions are presented to have better occupational health and safety education.

178-185

Authors: Zeynep BAYKAN, Mehmet KILINÇ, Melis NAÇAR

The aim of this study was to determine the opinions and attitudes of the freshman students in Erciyes University Faculty of Medicine towards absenteeism. It was a descriptive and cross sectional study, which was conducted in May 2015. 81% of 310 students were accessed. A questionnaire including an absenteeism attitude scale was applied to the students. For the analysis of data, Chi square and Mann Whitney U tests were used. 7.2% of students said that they always attended the theoretical lessons whereas 71.1% of them reported that they sometimes did not attend these lessons. 21.7%, on the other hand, stated that they mostly did not attend these lessons. 81.1% of the students indicated that they always attended the practical lessons. Another finding was that foreign students attended the theoretical lessons more than Turkish students. The most common suggestion made by the students for preventing absenteeism was linking the basic courses with clinical information to be used later. The mean score obtained from the absenteeism attitude scale was 54.6 ± 15.0. The mean scores obtained from necessity, responsibility and obligation subscales were 19.6 ± 5.5, 21.4 ± 6.7, and 13.6 ± 6.1, respectively. 73.5% of the students indicated that attendance should not be controlled in the Faculty of Medicine. At the end of the study it was revealed that medical students had negative attitudes towards attendance and there was a need to organize activities that would increase their motivation and prevent absenteeism.

195-208

Authors: Turgay ÖNTAŞ

In this study to demonstrate primary school teachers' employment process and their first year teaching in private educational organizations is aimed. The major employer of primary school teachers is public schools that are funded by state. There will be a gap between grade inflation and employment rate when all of the teacher candidates claim to be appointed to public schools. Hence private educational organizations provide alternative career opportunities for teacher candidates. Qualitative methods will be used in this study to display real evidence from the eyes of teachers and also principals. The data have been obtained through documents and interview techniques. After the data have been collected, descriptive analysis has been used. The findings of the study were given within the frame of themes and codes which were determined based on the problem statement. The first theme, career was presented in the context of choosing sector, recruitment and selecting process, professional development, leave the profession. The second theme, factors affecting first years' success was explained in the context of teaching factors, consistency and skills focus. The third theme was presented in a category of pressure, workload, complaining psychological and physical exhaustion, flexible working conditions.

220-230

Authors: Barış USLU

The purpose of this research is to determine the level of faculty's perceptions related to managerial flexibility regarding scholarly practices in universities, and to examine the differences in these perceptions in terms of their personal, professional and institutional features by controlling the impact of their managerial duties when the impact of their managerial duties are controlled. In line with this purpose, quantitative data were collected online from 1339 faculty members who work in Turkish public universities via the online version of the Managerial Flexibility Regarding Scholarly Practices Scale. The data were examined by descriptive and covariance analyses. The general level of faculty's perceptions related to managerial flexibility regarding scholarly practices was found at a medium level (Mean=3.17; sd=.87) while their perceptions related to managerial flexibility regarding research practices was found at a high level (Mean=3.43; sd=.94). In addition, after controlling when the impact of their managerial roles are taken under control as covariant, significant differences in faculty's perceptions related to managerial practice flexibility were explored in terms of their disciplines and universities' establishment dates and locations were explored. According to these results, the perceptions of faculty members working who work especially in social fields, at universities which are located in regions covering many prestigious universities are more positive than others. It might be claimed that having advanced academic support mechanisms as the institutional component of universities in these developed regions and carrying out studies in social science disciplines with less resources are the reasons of these differences. It might be said that the reasons of these differences between the perceptions of faculty members are that academic support mechanisms has been institutional components of universities which are situated in regions where the most of developed higher education institutions are found and that studies in social science disciplines can be carried out with less costs. To minimize the differences in faculty's perceptions related to managerial practice flexibility and to increase the institutional contribution to their academic productivity, university managers can operate less expensive practices such as the support for academic writing in foreign language, academic study and project preparation trainings, internal review system, formal mentoring program, forming interdisciplinary study groups, and departmental seminars, as well as establishing fundamental units like teaching-learning institute, research office and media advisory bureau.

242-251

Authors: Dilek BAŞERER, Zeynep BAŞERER, Aysel TÜFEKÇİ AKCAN

The research was conducted in order to understand views of academics on ethical responsibilities, principles and violations in academia. The research was carried out with 14 academics. Data were collected by using a structured interview form composed of five questions. Content validity, internal validity and external validity were checked for the validity of the research while external and internal reliability was checked to ensure the research reliability. Data were analyzed by using a qualitative method ‘content analysis'. The findings were presented under three sections: (a) ethical principles and violations in scientific research and publications, (b) ethical principles and violations in social relationships, and (c) ethical principles and violations in respect to social responsibility. As a result of the study, it was found that academics were aware of the ethical principles. In addition, given the example that they provided from their surroundings, it was discovered that ethical principles were being violated in scientific research and publication process as well as in social relationships in academia.

261-267

Authors: Mehmet ŞEREMET

In this study, the main aim is to investigate opinions of the students who study in 4th grade of the department of maritime transportation and management engineering of the maritime faculty on employability potential of the maritime degree programmes. In accordance with this purpose, in 2014-2015 academic year, opinions of 154 final year students (candidate seafarer) from three different universities were qualitatively assessed. The major finding of the study is that professional experience based on internship causes various differences in the perception of seafarer candidates towards the profession and in their choice of profession. Moreover, the students' self-assessment on their transferable skills development showed that foreign language skills were not well improved, which is principally one of the most necessities in the job market. As a result, according to the opinions of the students it can be said that practical education and internship opportunities of the department make the biggest contribution to the profession. Nevertheless, after graduation, they feel that they might meet some challenges in the job market such as job shortages and tendency to lowering rates in the wages. The study was finalised by a set of suggestions which might help to improve employability potential of the programmes as well as the quality of student's learning experience in maritime programmes.