Investigating the Views of Mathematics Teachers on the Effectiveness of Branch Teachers' Committee Meeting

The aim of this study is to investigate the views of mathematics teachers on the effectiveness of branch teachers' committee meeting. The study was carried out with 97 (61 elementary school and 36 secondary school) mathematics teachers who were working in different regions of Turkey. For data collection, a questionnaire consisting of 20 items developed by Demirtas and Comert (2006) and a form included open-ended questions were used. In order to analyze the gathered data, content analysis technique was performed. At the end of the study it was observed that the views of mathematics teachers on effectiveness of committee meetings are amount to on average. Besides, the quantitative findings, the answers given to open - ended questions showed that a considerable amount of teachers see branch teachers' committee meeting as a matter of form and have weak beliefs in the necessity of the meetings. Through the findings gathered, some recommendations were made by the researchers. SUMMARY Purpose and Significance: Branch teachers' committee meeting is arranged different times during the academic year with the participants of the same branch teachers. The meetings are supported by the Ministry of National Education and it is aimed to increase the outcomes of education and to raise the quality of educational activities through these meetings. In a consideration of the importance of these meetings, the views of teachers on these meetings become crucial. Thus, current study aims to investigate the views of mathematics teachers on the effectiveness of branch teachers' committee meeting. Methodology: The present study aiming to investigate the views of teachers on the effectiveness of branch teachers' committee meeting has been conducted using descriptive research design. The study group of the research were composed of 97 (61 elementary school and 36 secondary school) mathematics teachers who were working in different regions of Turkey. In order to collect data, a questionnaire and an open-ended question form were used. The questionnaire developed by Demirtas and Comert (2006) was consisted of 20 items with three rating scale (never, sometimes, always). The form, as another data collective tool, is comprised of open-ended questions aimed to determine the views of teachers on the deficiency of the related meetings and an ideal meeting. Interpretations were made through the average points of questionnaire items and the gathered data from the open-ended question form were analysed by using the content analysis technique. Results: Through the analysis, quantitative data showed that the views of teachers on the effectiveness of committee meetings are on average, 2.1 points out of 3. In addition to the data obtained from the questionnaires, the qualitative analysis of the participants' responses to open-ended questions let the researchers have a deeper understanding of the current issue. Accordingly, findings showed that considerable amount of teachers see branch teachers' committee meeting as a matter of form and have weak beliefs in its necessity. Some teachers stated that the meetings are never made. On the other hand, participant teachers indicated that the ideal committee meeting should be made based on educational instructions.