Chapter 10: Teacher Interpersonal Behavior and Students’ Subject-Related Attitudes in General and Vocational Science Classes in Turkey

The purpose of the study was to examine differences between Turkish vocational and general education students’ perceptions of their science teachers’ interpersonal behavior and the associations between these perceptions and their attitudes towards science taking into account other background variables. Data were collected with the adapted version of the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) which measures student perceptions of teacher Influence and Proximity in the classroom, and the Test of Science Related Attitudes (TOSRA). A total of 1377 students (grades 9 to 11) in 49 science classes at two types of schools (general and vocational education) were involved in the study. Correlation and regression analyses revealed that students’ perceptions were significantly associated with their attitudes in both education types and that there were significant differences in students’ perceptions of teacher Proximity according to school type.