Abstract
STUDYING POSTGRADUATE: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS BASED ON TEACHER EXPERIENCES
The purpose of this study is to unveil the experiences of teachers who are pursuing postgraduate education. This study is designed in qualitative research method and phenomenology design. Nine teachers who have completed postgraduate education in different universities participated in the study. Criterion sampling and maximum variation sampling were used to choose the participants. In order to collect the data, a semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers was used. The descriptive analysis technique was used to analyze the data. When the findings of the study were examined, the most important points expressed by the participants were the expansion of cultural development and field knowledge within the meaning of graduate education. In addition, it was seen that teachers' aims of doing postgraduate education were in line with the meanings attributed to postgraduate education. It was found that the majority of the participating teachers wanted to specialize in a specific field and to work as academic staff. Teachers also included the financial contribution of postgraduate education to their advantages and psychological fatigue and insufficiency to their disadvantages. Some of the participants mentioned that the freedom to choose the courses they would see during the course period is not in their own hands and the lack of objective selection of academic staff decreases the effectiveness of the courses. Results were discussed in line with the literature and various suggestions were presented.
Keywords
Postgraduate education, teacher, experience, qualitative research, phenomenology.