VIEWS OF GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS ON IN-SERVICE TRAINING ACTIVITIES (NEVSEHIR CASE)
In-service training includes the educational opportunities provided for the staff to develop themselves and follow the improvements in their profession. Teachers’ participating into in-service training programs is remarkable for the educational system that is natural to be affected from any kinds of national and international developments besides the changing curriculum. The purpose of the research was to determine the belief levels of geography teachers on educational activities related to in-service educational needs and to reveal on which are the pre-determined needs center according to gender and seniority. The research was carried out on screening model, and the study group included totally 47 teachers carrying on their duties at schools affiliated to Nevsehir Provincial Directorate for National Education. In the research, “The Scale for Determining the Views of Geography Teachers Related to In-Service Training Activities” developed by Gencturk et al. (2011) and revised by the researchers was used as the data collection tool. The scale included 52 items and 5 dimensions, and the reliability coefficient was .97,5. According to the research result, when the belief levels of geography teachers related to in-service training activities were investigated, it was determined that the answers given to “in-service training activities related to subject are and teaching” sub-scale, to “the need for in-service training activities related to teaching technologies” sub-factor, to “teaching curriculum” sub-scale, to “alternative and traditional assessment and measurement techniques” sub-scale, and to “geography skills” sub-scale were at a high level. In-service training activities needs of geography teachers were noticed to differ significantly in favor of female teachers in terms of gender. Namely, female teachers expressed that they needed in-service training activities more rather than the male teachers. Moreover, it was also concluded that the teachers who have just started to their professional career needed in-service trainings as the most, and the ones who have been in the mid of their career were the ones who had the least need.

Keywords
Geography teachers, in-service training, teacher views