Marriage Made in Hell: Views of Education Supervisors on the Unification of Education Supervision in Turkey

Abstract

Education supervision plays an important role in developing qualified human resources. However, sudden changes in Turkish education policies have affected the supervision system. A reorganization took place in the education supervision system in 2014, whereby provincial education supervisors (PES) and national education supervisors (NES) became unified under the Provincial National Education Directorates (NED). This unification created significant problems, particularly in respect to both status and employee rights. The present research aims to reveal the views of the education supervisors on the unification of these two groups. In this study, a qualitative research method and phenomenological design were used. The study group consists of education supervisors (8 NESs and 7 PESs) working in Ankara Provincial NED. Data collected in 2014-2015 academic term, using a semi structured interview technique, was analyzed by the content analysis method. According to the findings, the participants described the purposes of this unification as: eliminating duplication of duties, creating independent and qualified supervision, centrally consolidating supervisions, opening the supervision to political influences, and improving employee rights. On the other hand, while unification has had some positive effects on the supervisors in terms of in collaboration and knowing each other closely, it has also adversely affected the education system in areas such as lack of supervision, professional exhaustion, financial expectations, loss of status, and biased supervision. As an alternative to unification, the participants recommend unifying under a region, the ministry or a governorship. The current unification, contrary to its intended purposes of education and learning quality, has rather led to problems of status and employee rights, as well as discussions on such problems. As a result of such discussions, a dual system was put into effect that was organized at a central level and a provincial level, similarly to before the unification.