Main Challenges in Front of the Teachers to Teach Geography More Effectively: A Phenomenological Research

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify the main challenges geography teachers face in providing a more efficient geography education and the solutions teachers come up with against these issues. In order to be more effective in geography teaching, identifying and producing solutions for the issues that geography teachers go through within the context of school administration, students, parents and other branch teachers is among the first measures that need to be taken. Phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. As a part of the study, semi-structured interviews were held with 212 voluntary geography teachers from nine different provinces of Turkey, and the obtained results were analyzed using descriptive analysis. According to the obtained findings, two third of the geography teachers state that they have problems with parents, more than half with the school administration and students, and more than one third with other branch teachers. By extension, it can be seen that the majority of geography teachers face problems with parents, students and school administration, the key shareholders of education. In an effort to turn the current situation around, applied trainings assisted by case studies may be provided to improve geography teachers' conflict management, adolescent psychology, problem solving and communication skills. Furthermore, projects that will turn the socio-cultural environment of the school into a center of attraction and promote participation may be designed to spark parents' interest in education. Lastly, school administrators may be suggested to take measures in terms of both in-service training and material and learning environment that are aimed at inclining teachers towards using student-oriented active learning methods and techniques in order to generate interest and motivation in students towards lessons.