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2017, Cilt 7, Sayı 3, Sayfa(lar) 617-626 |
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DOI: 10.5961/jhes.2017.238 |
A Validity and Reliability Study for a New Scale of Teachers’ Stereotypes in Educational Context |
Süleyman AVCI |
Marmara University, Atatürk Faculty of Education, Department of Educational Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey |
Keywords: Stereotype, Scale development, Education |
Stereotyping is defined as making overgeneralizations about a group of people by attributing same characteristics to almost all members of
that group without considering their differences. Stereotyping which is typical of every person and is harmless under normal conditions has
the potential to have harmful consequences such as lowering academic achievement and increasing absence and dropout rate. Therefore, the
stereotyping threat in education is a phenomenon of which teachers should be cognizant. There is also a need for developing instruments
that will measure the influence of stereotyping threat which will help to present evidence for those studies aiming to increase teachers’
awareness. In order to address the above-mentioned need, this study aimed to develop a scale of “Teachers’ Stereotypes in Educational
Context” and report validity and reliability analyses with an aim to determine the stereotypes possessed by teachers in educational
contexts. The sample of the study comprised 442 teachers from 25 districts in İstanbul who worked at primary, secondary or high school
level in the spring term of 2013-2014 academic year. The first form of the scale had 73 items but with the exclusion of 35 items as a result of
exploratory factor analysis, a 38-item scale was obtained. Eigen values of eight factors were between 1.61 and 4.92 and factor loadings were
between 4.35 and 13.29 whereas total loadings value was 55.98. Internal consistency of the scale which was calculated with Cronbach alfa
was found to be 0.87. Cronbach alfa values for factors ranged between 0.89 and 0.74. Correlations between 8 factors ranged between 0.34
and 0.004. Additionally, the 8-factor structure was also supported by confirmatory factor analysis. In accordance with the findings of the
study, we conclude that the developed scale with 38 items can be used to determine teachers’ stereotyping in educational environments.
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