Humanistic attitudes, values, system justification, and control beliefs in a Turkish sample

The values, humanistic attitudes, perceived democratic level and justification of the educational system and personal control beliefs about the educational system in Turkey were investigated. The sample consisted of 211 teacher candidates and 155 teachers from different public schools in Izmir. Data were gathered using the Polarity Scale (Tomkins, Stone, & Schaffner, 1988), Schwartz Value Scale (Sagiv & Schwartz, 1995), and the following three scales which were developed for this study: Perceived Democracy in Education System Scale, Control Beliefs Scale, and System Justification Scale. Results demonstrate significant differences between the teachers and teacher candidates for control beliefs, system justification, and some dimensions of Schwartz's Value Scale. Also age and sex are seen to be related to humanistic values and perceived democratic level of the educational system. Multiple correlations are determined between the beliefs, values, and attitudes of participants in relation to different dimensions of the education system. The results are discussed in relation to democratic education.