Evaluation of the 2018 Turkish Curriculum

Abstract

Turkish education in schools is of great importance not only in terms of Turkish lessons, but also in terms of success in other lessons. Many reforms have been made to establish a better education system. One aspect of new educational reforms that has implications for educators is curriculum development studies that require teacher to adopt and implement the changes properly. The fact that the curricula are changing rapidly in Turkey obviously requires the ability to accommodate these changes effectively. However, to check whether the changes are implemented accordingly and what the failing parts are, both the curriculum and the in-classroom activities should be evaluated consistently. In this regard, the aim of this research is to evaluate the 2018 Turkish curriculum. The study has been conducted with mixed-method research design. Firstly, the researchers have analyzed the Turkish curriculum for 1st- 8th grades as a document. Then, teachers’ views regarding the 1st and 5th grade Turkish curricula that have been implemented were taken through online survey and face-to-face interviews. In addition, in-class observations were made to see how the official curriculum was reflected in practice. The findings obtained from the descriptive analysis of the data were categorized and integrated according to the components of the curriculum consisting of (1) learning outcomes, (2) content, (3) teaching-learning process, (4) measurement and evaluation, and the general characteristics and the use of the curriculum. Results have showed that there is an obvious conflict between the official and operational curriculum. Although the vast majority of teachers responded positively in a high rate to the online survey, their answers in focus group interviews have revealed that they don’t have sufficient knowledge about the innovations in the curriculum and tend not to benefit from the guidance of the curriculum in the teaching process. At the end of the study, some suggestions have been provided to satisfy the needs of both the curriculum and the teachers as curriculum implementers.