AVRUPA BİRLİĞİ EĞİTİM PROGRAMLARININ TARiHÇESİ VE TÜRKİYE'NİN UYUM SÜRECİ

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the contributions of European Union member countries to Turkey in terms of social and economic aspects of educational policies. Educational program constituted by member countries aim at developing the skills of young people and countribute more to their backgrounds with regards to educational collaboration. As searching for alternative ways of employment became a necessity, member countries (being aware of this serious problem) found themselves in the search for alternative methods by means of devising new programs. European Union develops collaboration among the member countries within a wide range of spectrum ranging from politics to economy. Common politics constitute the main component of this collaboration. Creating partnerships and enabling citizens to know each other via creating interaction in terms of culture, language and understanding, a higher aims to be created where no discrimination exists with regards to race, language, religion, or disability. Through developing these strategies, European awareness aims to be internalised among the citizens. Educational politics is one of the main policies established to realize these objectives. The importance of educational policy has become more important day by day. The reason for this is that knowledge based economy has gained importance in in the process of globalisation and knowledge based Europe wants to be established within Europe. Developing technology, using alternative technologies, innovative approaches and life long education programs form the basic objectives of the program. This study talks about the history of educational policy in Europe, the aims of the policy, educational and instructional programs and Turkey's participation in these programs. Importance of introducing European Union programs has been emphasized in the study since Turkey is a candidate country and alternative employment opportunities could be provided for the graduates. Keywords: Educational policies, Socrates, Erasmus, Comenius, Leonardo da Vinci.