Secondary School Teachers’ Beliefs on Character Education Competency

Character education competencies of teachers are very important in the achievement of educational objectives in addition to their field knowledge, general knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. The study which utilized survey model aimed to identify competencies in teachers, who play a significant role in shaping the character of students along with the parents, through self assessment. Data was collected with the help of CECBS (Character Education Competency Belief Scale) developed by Milson & Ekşi (2003). Working group of the study was composed of 231 teachers employed in various provinces of Turkey. Results showed that teachers’ beliefs on character education competency centered on “agree” on CEC (Character Education Competency) and GEC (General Education Competency) dimensions; variables such as gender, type of school teachers graduated from, type of setlement they work in, income levels of their students and seniority did not create a significant difference on their character education competency beliefs however the subject they teach, attending in-service seminars and reading books about character education were found be significant. In the contenxt of the findings; increasing the number of in- service training opportunities and the number of publications are suggested.