Views of Secondary School 5 and 6th Grade Students and Their Teachers About Elective Courses

Abstract

This research has done by descriptive research method which is one of qualitative ways. Its
design is a case study. Working groups of it includes 150 students at 5. and 6. grade and 32 teachers from
3 different secondary schools in Çiğli district of İzmir. Semi-structured interview form and observation
form for qualitative research have been used as data collecting tools. While analyzing data, both content
analysis and descriptive analyses have been used. Findings of the study are those; while choosing optional
courses, students have mostly considered the contribution of the courses to them and external factors.
The results about teaching process of the courses show that; elective courses support the core courses by
reviewing, by enhancement and supporting activities. It has been found out that, frequency of positive and
negative opinions of teachers and students about course contents are nearly the same. Unlike, there are
differences between opinions of teachers and students about benefits of courses. Frequency of positive
attitudes and behaviors of both teachers and students towards course process are similar with the
negative ones. Also, observation results show parallelism with the interview results