Teaching Career Steps in Turkey from the Teachers’ Perspective

The purpose of this study is to determine the views of teachers about teaching career steps. The study group of the research which adopts a qualitative case study design consisted of 52 teachers working at various education levels in the 2022-2023 academic year in Türkiye. The research data were collected through a semi-structured interview form and employing interviews, and it was analyzed by content analysis. Depending on the findings, teachers' views on career steps were gathered under the themes of general, exam application conditions, professional studies and education program, and these themes were categorized under positive and negative views. While teachers found career steps positive in terms of continuous learning and professional development in general, they found it negative in terms of separating teachers and disrupting the school climate, exam-related anxiety and stress, and discrediting the postgraduate education. Some of the suggestions developed by the researcher within the scope of the research results are as follows: Continuity in practice should be ensured, the requirement of long working years for the application should be reduced, and the sixteen-year lost service periods of teachers who have not taken the exam since 2006 should be added to the ten-year and twenty-year periods. Provided that the candidacy stage has been completed, master's degree graduates in the field and in educational sciences should be given the title of expert teacher, and doctoral graduate teachers should be regarded as head teacher without a working-year requirement.