Faculty of Education Members’ Perceptions on Constructivist Teacher

Abstract

This study was carried out to explore the perceptions that academicians working at faculties of
education in Turkey have regarding ‘constructivist teacher’. The participants of this phenomenological study
included 323 academicians at 71 Faculties of Education in the spring of the 2013-2014 academic year. In the
study, purposive sampling method was used among the sampling methods. Academicians completed the
sentence “Constructivist teacher is like ... because ...” and the data gathered is analyzed with qualitative method.
The results indicated that academicians produced 94 different metaphors regarding the constructivist teacher.
These metaphors are categorized into 14 conceptual categories with regard to their common features. The
metaphors indicated by all academicians and mostly-indicated ones are the following: Guide, master, maestro,
director, architect, artist and democratic leader