An Evaluation of the Systems of Transition to Secondary Education in Turkey

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This study aims to evaluate the systems of transition to secondary education that have been practiced in Turkey to place students to secondary education institutions and to put forth to what degree these systems conform with the goals in Ministry of National Education (MoNE) 2023 Vision Document. In the study, the lessons in the systems of transition to secondary education that have been in practice so far are assessed with regard to distribution of questions, weight coefficients, the factors used in exam practices and evaluations, the grade levels of exams and years. The study employs the method of document analysis, which is a qualitative method. The data obtained were analyzed through content analysis. It was found out that though there is not a difference in the total number of questions in the transition to secondary education examinations through the years, the number of lessons that the students are responsible for increased. The numbers of questions in the Math, Science and Turkish lessons have reduced in the recent years, but their weight coefficients are still higher. The students were subjected to relative evaluation system except for the examinations of Transition from Primary to Secondary Education (TEOG). All the examinations were carried out at eighth grade Except for Placement Test (SBS). MoNE have reduced the number of questions in Social Studies lesson as well as its weight coefficient in evaluation system. MoNE included English lesson in the last three central transition systems and Education of Religion and Ethics lesson in the last two central transition systems. The questions of these two lessons were based on interpretation. This shows that MoNE tends to develop higher order thinking skills rather than knowledge level in the transition examinations. In the Entrance to High Schools Examination, put into practice in 2018 by MoNE, the obligation to participation to central examinations was abolished. The results of the study reveal that MoNE tries to increase content validity through holding students responsible for more lessons in the systems of transition to secondary education.