The Organization of the Faculty Development Programs for Research Assistants: The Case of Education Faculties in Turkey

The faculty development of research assistants who are at the first step of their academic careers are significant for the employment of faculty members of future and realizing the responsibilities of higher education institutions as to contribute to science and technology. However, there is little research on the features of faculty development programs for research assistants in literature. The aim of this research is to determine the organization of the faculty development programs for research assistants. This study was improved by using descriptive research method. The population of the research consisted of 1095 research assistants who work in 54 Education Faculties of 44 state universities of Turkey between 2003 and 2004. The research data were collected by means of the survey. At the end of the study, it has been determined that the Research Assistants in Education Faculties in Turkey are highly in need of faculty development in view of; professional development, institutional development, instructional development and personal development respectively. It has also been determined with the study that the organization of the faculty development programs that research assistant suggest should be organized by the experts in education period as a workshop, and as activities continuing 2-3 hours in a week in a faculty development center. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]