The Mediating Role of Reflective Thinking between Preschool Teachers’ Personality Traits and 21st-Century Skills

The Mediating Role of Reflective Thinking between Preschool Teachers’ Personality Traits and 21st-Century Skills

Nevra ATIŞ AKYOL, Asuman BİLBAY & Mehmet KANAK

ABSTRACT
The radical changes in technology, education, and social life have resulted in changes in the personality traits, thinking styles, and skills of individuals. Teachers have a primary role in adapting children to these changing conditions. The educational opportunities offered from the early years can ensure equipping children with the knowledge and skills required by the 21st century, shaping their personality traits in this direction and having reflective thinking skills. Within this context, the importance of preschool teachers, whom the child encounters and takes as a model other than family members, comes to the fore. The present study aims to examine the mediating effect of reflective thinking tendencies on the relationship between preschool teachers’ personality traits and 21st-century skills. This research, aiming to test the mediating role of reflective thinking between preschool teachers’ personality traits and 21st-century skills, tried to reveal the relationships between variables. Therefore, path analysis from structural equation models was preferred. According to the findings of the study, reflective thinking was found to be a full mediator between “extraversion” and 21st-century skills. Reflective thinking was found to be a partial mediator between personality types “openness to development” and “self-control” and “neuroticism” and 21st-century skills. There is a positive relationship between 21st-century skills and openness to experience and self-control.

KEYWORDS: : 21st-century skills, reflective thinking, personality

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