Teaching "Usul-i Cedit" (The New Method) to Primary School Teachers in Ottoman Provinces

Abstract

This research aims to uncover the activities undertaken to teach the new "usul-i cedit" teaching methods to sibyan (primary) school teachers who continued providing traditional education during the modernization period. Modernization of education encompasses various practices, from curricula of usul-i cedit to school management, teachers' personal rights, and health regulations in schools. Usul-i cedit focuses on teaching Turkish literacy and new methods developed for this purpose. Due to the failure of primary school reforms during the Tanzimat Period, the competence of school teachers was questioned. There was a push to gradually remove teachers unable to teach using usul-i cedit. However, training enough qualified teachers at Darülmuallimin-i Sıbyan would take time. Therefore, rapid courses were introduced to quickly train current primary school teachers in the new methods. Sample schools like iptidai, rüştiye, and provincial teacher training schools served as course centers. These courses primarily taught new methods for teaching Turkish literacy and included modern pedagogical methods for basic education subjects. The "usul-i tedris" (teaching method) lesson, central to teaching the new reading and writing methods, was a key component of all courses. The research employed document analysis, with data from Ottoman Archive documents forming the study's backbone. Historical data were analyzed using content analysis.