Teachers’ Opinions on Student Diversity

Positive attitudes of individuals toward diversity will further strengthen their beliefs in protection and development of human rights, equal access to education, and participation of democracy. The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions of teachers working in public schools on student diversity. The research was carried out using qualitative approaches. The survey model was employed to determine teachers opinions on student diversity. A total of 64 teachers participated in the study. The participants were selected by stratified sampling method. The data in the study was collected through interview forms. Collecting data from each participant took about 20-35 minutes. The collection of all data took about six months. The data was analyzed using the descriptive analysis method. The findings of the study showed that in terms of student diversity, teachers had the most difficult times in performing their duties when students were reluctant towards learning activities in the classroom. It has been determined that the situations where the teachers were easily able to overcome were related to students’ features and teachers’ personal initiatives. Finally, the overall results suggested that teachers needed to have effective resources and environments in order to be able to have necessary knowledge and skills in every dimension of student diversity.