REFLECTIONS OF SOCIAL WORK STUDENTS' KPSS PREPARATION PROCESS ON SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION: A QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

The aim of this study is to determine what the preparation process of KPSS, the public personnel selection examination, by 3rd and 4th grade students at Social Work Department of Faculty of Health Sciences means in the context of social work education. The study was designed in accordance with qualitative research and the "descriptive phenomenology" form of phenomenological approach was used. The study group consisted of 3rd and 4th grade students of Sel？uk University, Social Work Department who are going to take KPSS exam in 2018. The data were collected with a structured open-ended interview form created by the researcher in the direction of the study's purpose. In the evaluation of the data, content analysis technique was used. Social work students consider KPSS to be a necessity, a guarantee and a shortcut. In the study, it is emphasized that "hope", "stress", "fear" and "disappointment" are the emotional aspect of KPSS while "difficult", "unnecessary" and "what will we do?" are the ideational aspects of it. It is seen that the students focused on the themes "exam week", "not affecting", "being busy", "regret", "test in the lesson" and "unable to focus" for the effect of KPSS preparation process on theoretical lessons. On the other hand, it is seen that "being busy", "internship first", "unable to focus" and "test-solving" themes are emphasized in terms of the effect of KPSS preparation process on social work practice. In the conclusion and discussion part, alternative career options apart from KPSS, searching for employment opportunities for social workers, counseling social work students in the KPSS process and directing them to psychological support points and including questions which test professional knowledge in KPSS exam were discussed