Teacher education and the European education area: A scale development study

This study aims to develop a scale for the European Education Area (EEA). The main goal of this study is to support evidence-based evaluation of educators' knowledge and awareness levels regarding the EEA. The study group consisted of 285 undergraduate students enrolled in the Faculty of Education at Fırat University, Türkiye. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) confirmed a 21-item scale, named the “European Education Area Scale (EEAS)”, with two dimensions: Policy Awareness and Learning & Skills. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported the model with acceptable fit indices. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the EEAS was calculated as 0.927, indicating excellent internal consistency. The findings suggest that the dimensions and items of the developed scale are consistent with the objectives of the EEA. Using this scale to assess the knowledge and awareness levels of teachers and candidate teachers will help evaluate the extent to which the EEA 2025 goals have been achieved.