Abstract

The first grade education, being the first step of students’ formal education, has a great importance in their school life. Learning experiences that took place during this period constitute the basis for students’ education. This period crucially predicts long-term achievement. For successful first grade education, teachers have a critical role. However, it is seen that inexperienced teachers and teacher candidates have anxiety and fear regarding first grade education. Therefore, addressing the perceptions, emotions and experiences of classroom teachers is important in making this period more understandable. To collect data, focus group interview technique was used in this phenomenological study design. The study group was comprised of 12 classroom teachers. The findings were presented under the themes of characteristics of first grade teachers, the effects of first grade teaching, the importance of first grade instruction, problems experienced and solution strategies regarding those problems.

Key words: First grade teaching, teacher characteristics, teacher experiences, first grade education