Turkish Education System Research Articles

PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ VIEWS ABOUT ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE COURSES THROUGH DISTANCE EDUCATION

Awareness about possible contributions and drawbacks of English as a foreign language courses through distance and traditional face-to-face education may contribute to improving the efficiency of the process of teaching and learning a foreign language. The aim of this study is to investigate pre-service teachers’ views related to English as a foreign language courses through distance education compared to the traditional face-to-face education. The study intended to reveal the pros and cons of English as a foreign language courses not only through distance education but also face-to-face education and provide some suggestions to overcome possible problems encountered with the distant and/or face-to-face learning/teaching of English. Moreover, the study aimed to explore pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards learning English as a foreign language and the impact of learning English through distance education compared to face-to-face education on their grades. This study employed both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The participants were 91 pre-service teachers from different majors for the quantitative part of the present study while 14 pre-service teachers participated in the qualitative part. The findings highlight the importance of pre-service teachers’ views regarding learning English as a foreign language through distance education compared to the traditional face-to-face education considering the perceived strengths and weaknesses of each. Likewise, the study provided implications to improve their effectiveness in the process of learning English as a foreign language, which is considered one of the top priorities in the Turkish education system.

A Participatory and Democratic Education Administration Model: Local Education Boards

This article presents a mixed method study on how to develop a participatory education management model as an alternative to the Turkish education administration system. Consisting of qualitative and quantitative methods, the mixed research method has been adopted to acquire the required data. Qualitative phase the education administration systems applied in OECD member countries, documents and reports available in the literature were evaluated. To reach wider masses, an online survey aiming at collecting the views of teachers and administrators was carried out by using the quantitative phase of the mixed method. This study has laid it bare that the principles of good governance, common sense, transparency, accountability, participation, democracy, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability stand forefront in educational systems that adopt the participatory education boards model. Eventually, a board/commission oriented local education administration model has been designed and developed as an alternative for the Turkish educational administration system.

The Place of Non-Governmental Organizations in the Turkish Education System According to Social Studies Teachers

In this research, the place of non-governmental organizations in the Turkish education system was tried to be determined according to the opinions of social studies teachers. Phenomenology design was used from qualitative research methods. The study group of the study consists of 37 social studies teachers selected from schools in Hatay city center through purposeful sampling. Four open-ended questions prepared to collect data were asked to social studies teachers for their opinions. In the analysis of the obtained data, the content analysis method used in qualitative analysis researches was applied and themes were created by grouping according to the similarity of the expressions. The teacher's views that stand out in each theme are reflected in direct quotes. According to the results obtained from the opinions of social studies teachers at the end of the research; It was concluded that non-governmental organizations are necessary but not sufficiently supported by the society, and that non-governmental organizations are not sufficiently involved in education policies and practices, that they remain insensitive in solving the problems related to education and that they cannot express these problems sufficiently.

Improving Equality in the Education System of Turkiye

Success breeds more success, the rich get richer, and the powerful get even more powerful. These are often true in human societies and describe the situation where whatever advantages one has in life frequently beget further advantages over time. The social sciences often describe this phenomenon as the Matthew effect of accumulated advantage, and it is known as preferential attachment in network science. The starting point of the process is often due to the first-mover advantage, under which the first person that achieves something will receive recognition and praise at a rate significantly higher than a person who achieves the same at a later point in time. All this boils down to the fact that unequal opportunities early on in education can translate into greater inequalities later in life. A major goal in the Turkish education system is therefore to ensure equal opportunities as well as equal quality of educational processes starting in preschool and beyond. This study explores the thought processed that have led to the implementation of procedures toward this goal, compares the current state in Turkiye with other OECD countries, and outlines future steps that are in the making for reaching targets throughout the educational system.

The Views of Teacher Candidates about Unemployment and Employment

This study aims to reveal the opinions of teacher candidates on unemployment, which has been observed more seriously among the young in the society recently, the provision of employment to the individuals in the society, and the links between unemployment and the Turkish education system. In this study, which was designed as qualitative research, it was tried to put forward the anxiety, opinions and solution suggestions of the candidate teachers who are fourth-year students in Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University and Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University Education Faculties about unemployment. In the study, in the approaches of teacher candidates to the concept of unemployment, they perceived unemployment as not being able to find a job or being sentenced to a job that was not suitable for its quality; the candidate teachers were observed to explain unemployment through definitions such as disrepute, seeing no respect in society, living in need of others, being left behind in the struggle for survival. It is seen that participants find the vocational guidance in the education system insufficient and unplanned, and they focus on solutions to increase the quality of education, not to increase the duration of education and the number of educational institutions as a suggestion to create employment. It has been stated that the Turkish education system should be saved from its competitive and rote structure that does not respond to the subjective needs of individuals, that teacher training institutions should be removed from their theoretical, multiple-choice examination-oriented structure, and a qualified teacher training system that gives more space to practise should be established.

Quality of Education From a Social Justice and Capabilities Perspective: The Case of Turkey

We explore how a social justice and capabilities perspective serves as a conceptual tool to understand the quality of education (QoE) in Turkey so that policy can be developed to make the education system inclusive of all learners, provide relevant education, and allow stakeholders’ democratic participation. We provide a critical discussion about the Turkish education system and continue with a critical analysis of the three interrelated dimensions of QoE from a social justice and capabilities perspective; that is, inclusive education, relevance, and democracy. Finally, we make recommendations to improve QoE in Turkey by strengthening social justice and developing appropriate capabilities in education.

Türkiye'de çocuklara İngilizce öğretimi ile ilgili araştırma makalelerinin içerik analizi

Recently, Turkish education system has been subject to some new regulations which have induced an increase in the number of the studies conducted in the field of Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) in Turkiye. This study mainly aims to determine the frequency distribution of these studies with regard to their topics, publishing years, the number of their authors, their samples and research methods with the help of a document analysis of the articles indexed by ULAKBIM TR Index (National Index) database. 56 articles were chosen as the sample since they were identified to be content-specific in the field of TEYL. Article Information Rubric was chosen as a data collection instrument and the data was processed through Microsoft Excel. The main findings of the study are: (1) ELT researchers are mostly concerned about writing papers about ‘Beliefs and Attitudes’ and ‘Methods and Techniques’; (2) there is an important change in the frequency distribution in terms of publishing years; (3) mostly in-service teachers have been chosen as the sample with purposive sampling method; (4) the studies mostly followed qualitative research with case studies, (5) researchers used interviews and questionnaires most as data collection tools and (6) the most frequently performed type of data analysis is content analysis in these studies. Suggestions for further research were provided at the end of the study.

Communication Problems of Secondary School Teachers with Migrant and Asylum Seeker Students: The Case of Ankara Keçiören

In general, migration is expressed as the mobility of people through all or a certain part of human communities and groups because of religious, economic, political, and other reasons. People who leave the country they live in and come to another country or region for temporary or permanent residence are called migrants, and people who leave the country in which they live in line with the claim of being a refugee but whose refugee status has not been finalized yet are called asylum seekers. The present study aims to determine the problems experienced by the children of immigrant and asylum-seeking families, who migrated from their hometowns to Turkey for different reasons, with teachers in the school environment. In Turkey, migrant education was initially aimed at directing the education process by working together with Syrian and local teachers; then, the Temporary Education Camps were reduced, and the integration of immigrant students into the Turkish education system was provided through official education institutions. The present study was conducted to determine the problems that secondary school teachers face with immigrant and refugee students. Determining the problems experienced by immigrant and asylum-seeking children is very important for both children and the quality of education provided to these children. The case study design, among the qualitative research designs, was used in the study. In this way, it was aimed to obtain detailed information about the communication problems of secondary school teachers with immigrant and asylum students. Keçiören District, where the number of immigrant and asylum-seeking families is high in Ankara, and such a study has not been conducted before, was chosen for the study. A total of 40 secondary school teachers working in secondary schools selected from different socio-economic districts of the Keçiören district of Ankara in the 2021-2022 academic year constituted the study group. A semi-structured interview form was used as the data collection tool. The opinions of the teachers were obtained with the approval of the Gazi University Ethics Committee and the permission of the Ministry of National Education. The content analysis method designed for qualitative research was used in the study. In this context, when the opinions of the teachers participating in the study were evaluated, communication with immigrant and asylum-seeking students was expressed as an important problem. As a result of the study, the teachers' opinions on the communication problem were determined as follows. The teachers stated that they communicated with students who could not communicate with the help of an interpreter, students who could not perceive the instructions correctly during the lesson because of the language problem, students who could not adapt to the environment and had difficulty in active participation in the lesson. About the negativities caused by the communication problems of the students, the teachers said that the students could not adapt to the classroom environment, their participation in the lesson was incomplete or none at all, students isolated themselves from the environment, they were dealing with extracurricular things when they could not communicate, the dropouts and absenteeism increased, and their academic success was affected negatively.

An examination of 1998 social studies textbooks in terms of UNESCO's global citizenship education paradigm

Araştırmada, küresel vatandaşlık eğitiminde var olan farklı yaklaşımlardan birisi olan UNESCO’nun küresel vatandaşlık eğitim paradigmasının ülkemizdeki 1998 sosyal bilgiler dersi öğretim programına göre hazırlanan sosyal bilgiler (4-5-6 ve 7.sınıf) ders kitaplarında yer alma durumu incelenmiştir. Ders kitaplarında küresel vatandaşlık eğitimi ile ilgili alanlar, UNESCO tarafından geliştirilen Global Citizenship Education (GCED, (Küresel Vatandaşlık Eğitim Paradigması) kılavuzluğunda belirlenmiştir. Araştırmacı tarafından bu paradigma kılavuzluğunda “Küresel Vatandaşlık Eğitimi İnceleme Formu” hazırlanmıştır. Ders kitaplarında küresel vatandaşlık eğitimi ile ilgili olan alanlar, hazırlanan bu form doğrultusunda doküman analizi yöntemi ile tespit edilmiştir. Elde edilen verilerin çözümlenmesinde ise içerik analizi tekniğinden faydalanılmıştır.
 Araştırmanın sonucunda, 1998 öğretim programına göre hazırlanmış olan sosyal bilgiler ders kitaplarının “küresel vatandaş”, “küresel vatandaşlık”, “küresel vatandaşlık eğitimi” kavramlarını doğrudan içermedikleri görülmüştür. Ayrica sosyal bilgiler ders kitaplarının, UNESCO’nun küresel vatandaşlık eğitimi anlayışının bilişsel ve sosyo-duygusal boyutlarını desteklediği ancak davranışsal boyutu yeterince desteklemediği tespit edilmiştir. Araştırmanın bir diğer önemli sonucu da sosyal bilgiler ders kitaplarında bireylerin eylemlerine yön veren bilgilerin, öğrencileri eleştirel bir düşünmeye sevk etmeden aktarılmasıdır. 21. Yüzyılın eşiğinde genelde eğitim sisteminin özelde de vatanaşlık eğitiminde önemli bir rolü olan sosyal bilgiler dersinin öğrencileri küreselleşen dünyaya hazırlaması beklenmektedir. 1998 öğretim programına göre hazırlanmış olan sosyal bilgiler ders kitaplarının bu amacı gerçekleştirmede yetersiz kaldığı görülmektedir. Dolayısıyla Türk Eğitim Sisteminde ilkokul ve ortaokulda sorumlu ve aktif vatandaş yetiştirme görevini üstlenmiş olan sosyal bilgiler dersinin ders kitaplarının küresel vatandaşlık eğitiminin tüm boyutlarını ele almasının faydalı olacağı düşünülmektedir

A Responsive Approach to Curricular Needs of Turkish Educational System: Curriculum Based on Reason, Values and Culture

The purpose of this research is to identify problems with formal curricula at different levels of education in Türkiye and to present an approach that offers solutions in line with these problems. In accordance with this purpose, document analysis design within the framework of systematic review was used in the research. In this context, the curriculum evaluation studies carried out between the years 2012-2021 were examined by using content analysis. In addition, the commonplaces of different curriculum approaches from various sources have been revealed. Curriculum evaluation studies conducted in Türkiye show that the curricula have various problems in terms of commonplaces such as teacher, learner, subject matter, context, and curriculum making. Moreover, in these studies it has been suggested that comprehensive updates be made in the curricula to solve the identified problems. Based on these findings, a curriculum approach has been proposed, which is believed to contribute to the solution of the curriculum problems. The Reason, Values, and Culture-Based Approach is a responsive approach that aims to train individuals who attach importance to mental and cultural values. In addition to the solution proposals in the approach put forward, various suggestions were presented to the institutions responsible for the curriculum development process in Türkiye and to researchers who will study corresponding issues.

Examining the Programs of Political Parties in terms of the Structure of the Turkish National Education System

Education systems are largely shaped by the policies of political parties. Political parties try to express their policies regarding the structure and functioning of the education system through party programs. As in all countries, policies regarding the education system have an important place in party programs in Turkey. The aim of this study is to examine the programs of political parties in Turkey in terms of the structure of the Turkish National Education System; the aim is to present their views on “Pre-School Education”, “Primary Education”, “General Secondary Education”, “Vocational Technical Secondary Education”, “Higher Education” and “Non-Formal Education-Adult Education-Continuous Education”. In this context, it is important to express the similarities in the objectives of the political parties regarding the structure of the Turkish Education System. In this study, the qualitative research method was used. The data of the research were collected through document analysis. The study population consisted of all the political parties in The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNAT). The sample of the study consists of five political parties selected according to the criterion sampling method, which is one of the purposive sampling methods. These political parties can be listed as follows according to the number of members: 1.Justice and Development Party (JDP), 2.Republican People's Party (RPP) 3.Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) 4.National Movement Party (NMP) 5.Good Party (GP). The data sources of the study are the party programs of political parties. The documents regarding the party programs were taken from the official websites of the parties. In the context of suitability for the purpose of the study, the documents were analyzed by the content analysis method. The findings of the research are given without adding the researcher's comment, according to the themes and codes created. According to the findings, there are quite a lot of statements about the structure of the Turkish National Education System in the programs of political parties. As a result of the analysis, it has been determined that there are many similarities in the programs of the five parties, although there are many differences in the objectives of the parties regarding the structure of the Turkish Education System.

Predictors of Academic Achievement at Different Levels of Socioeconomic Status

Success is a concept that is desired by everyone. In the Turkish education system, Anatolian high schools are considered one of the most prestigious schools which accept students via national central exams. The purpose of this study is to reveal indicators explaining the placement into Anatolian high schools, which is an important sign of success, in socioeconomically different regions. Logistic regression analyses were used as a prediction design. Data was collected from the 1049 10th grade high school students in Istanbul. According to findings, the indicators affecting the probability of studying in Anatolian high school differ between the low life quality indexed region (LLQR) and the high life quality indexed region (HLQR). In LLQR GPA, gender, number of people in the household, and mother’s monetary contribution were found as significant indicators. In HLQR GPA, father’s income and mother’s education level were found as significant indicators. These results are discussed using the main theories of educational sociology.

Disadvantages and solutions of a model in asylum seeker education: Temporary education centers (TECs)

The violence, and instability because of civil war in Syria have caused millions of people to leave their country. Many countries have been affected from this migration. Turkey is one of the countries that has been significantly affected from this crisis. Turkey is trying to provide some services to Syrian people. Education is one of them. For education of this large population the schools called temporary education centers (TECs) were established by Turkish government. In this way, it is aimed to integrate Syrian asylum seekers children into the Turkish education system. But, TECs have major disadvantages on issues such as bureaucracy, school building, and student absenteeism. Simultaneously, various solutions are employed to overcome these disadvantages. In the current research, TECs’ disadvantages, and solution proposal; which developed for Syrian asylum seeker children into Turkish education system were investigated. The investigations performed in a TEC, which located in Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras province in Turkey. Phenomenology was used in the research, and a semi-structured interview form developed by the researcher was used. Participants were determined through convenience sample approach. In this context, the opinions of six TEC employees, including Syrian educators who shared the same fate with Syrian asylum seeker children, were sought. The findings show TECs are intertwined with disadvantages such as lack of school building, overcrowded classrooms, limited social, and cultural activities, and lessening environmental support. The research intends to present first-hand solution proposals to the problems in the education provided for asylum seeker children. Results includes some clues on the relationship between mass migration, and education.

Investigation of the correlation between science teachers’ level of use of the education information network and their level of use of technology

The Education Information Network (EBA), which is offered as a social education platform in Turkish education system, is a system that allows teachers and students to benefit from educational technologies free of charge. This research was carried out to determine the correlation between the level of use of the EBA and the level of use of educational technologies of science teachers working in secondary education. In the study, the correlation research model, which is a quantitative research method, was used. The study group of the research consist of 80 Science Teachers working in all public secondary schools in the district of Çorlu in the province of Tekirdağ in the spring term of the 2018-2019 Academic year. As the data collection tool, Alabay's "Opinions on EBA Usage Level" and Bayraktar's "Educational Technologies Usage Level Determination Questionnaire" were used to determine the demographic characteristics of the participants. The data was analyzed by using SPSS 23 statistical analysis software package. The results of the study were obtained by applying the normality test, nonparametric analyses (Mann Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis H test) and the Correlation analysis on the obtained data. When the correlation between the opinions of teachers concerning the level of use of the EBA and the level of use of the educational technologies were examined, a positive and significant correlation was found between them.

Turkish education policies and practices: inclusive or exclusionary?

ABSTRACT This research aims to determine the opinions of teachers and educational administrators about how inclusive the Turkish education system is and attempts to provide a profound picture of inclusive education policies and practices in Turkey. In this qualitative-phenomenological study, sampling technique was used. Thirteen general education teachers and seven administrators, who participated in inclusive education in-service teacher training activities, constituted the working group of the study. The data were collected with a semi-structured interview form. The obtained data were analysed through the content analysis method. The findings revealed that inclusive education is still considered in terms of increasing the rates of schooling, and the policies and practices regarding it have not gone beyond mere integration. Although there have been remarkable steps regarding the inclusion of students, who are disadvantaged in terms of their disability, ethnicity and refugee, the Turkish education system is still far from being inclusive and fair. Hence, it was suggested that discussions on inclusion in the education system should go beyond the quantifiable indicators and be organized to include all disadvantageous groups of students, not just the visible ones.

A multicultural education approach to Turkish picture books written for Syrian refugee children

ABSTRACT Syrian refugees worldwide experience many difficulties, including integrating into the host country. Turkey host most of the Syrian refugees, but limited studies examined Syrian refugees’ transnational experiences in children’s literature. In this study, I have examined the picture books written for Syrian refugee children published in Turkey through a multicultural education framework to highlight how microculture and macroculture relate to each other. The books are produced by Promoting the Integration of Syrian Children into the Turkish Education System (PIKTES), which is supported by European Union (EU). I utilized content analysis and analyzed each book with the relationship between microculture and macroculture. I represented findings under three categories: shared cultural values between microculture and macroculture, decontextualization of Syrian refugee identity, and monistic representation of the social class. I suggested the need for quality picture books for multicultural education and authentic textual spaces for a smooth integration of Syrian refugee children.

Tool for Measuring Readiness Level of Children Who Will Start Primary School: Attainment Test for Primary School Admission (ATPA)

This research aims to develop a tool to measure the school readiness of children who will start primary school. Changes have occurred in the primary school starting age following the developments that took part in the Turkish Education System. This change has caused parents to have intense hesitations about enrolling their children in school. As a result of changing the age of starting education, it aims to develop a test that aims to eliminate the question mark in the parents and teachers of children in critical months as the age of starting primary school. This study was conducted with the quantitative research method. The obtained data were subjected to EFA and CFA analyzes by the Amos program. As a result of the research findings, the Attainment Test for Primary School Admission (ATPA-C), which was prepared considering the preschool and primary education aims, took its final form as a 17-item measurement tool gathered together in five factors. As a result of the analyses of the research made with the data of 1285 students, it was detected that the scale had the necessary validity and reliability findings for practice and research.

Effect of European Union Education Policy on Turkish Education System in Scope of European Union-Turkey Relations

Avrupa Birliği (AB), ortak kültür ve değerler temelinde bütünleşerek 27 üye ülke arasında işbirliğini geliştirmeyi ve aynı zamanda entegrasyonu derinleştirmeyi hedeflemektedir. Bu hedeflere ulaşma noktasında büyük bir öneme sahip olan eğitim konusu, Birlik politikalarının başarısında da oldukça etkin bir rol oynamaktadır. Böyle bir Birlik içerisinde yer almak isteyen Türkiye, tam üyelik sürecinde diğer politika alanlarında olduğu gibi eğitim alanında da AB’ye uyum kapsamında çeşitli düzenlemeler gerçekleştirmiştir. Bu çalışmada; AB- Türkiye ilişkileri bağlamında AB eğitim politikası tarihsel süreç içerisinde ele alınarak, AB eğitim politikasının Türk eğitim sistemi üzerindeki etkisi değerlendirilmeye çalışılacaktır. Araştırmada literatür tarama yöntemi kullanılmış ve konuya ilişkin güncel makale, kitap ve AB raporları incelenmiştir. Çalışmanın sonucunda; AB eğitim politikasının AB tam üyelik sürecinde olan Türk eğitim sistemi üzerinde oldukça etkili olduğu görülmüştür. Bu kapsamda Türkiye, AB tarafından aday ülkeler için belirlenen kriterler çerçevesinde eğitim alanında önemli düzenlemeler gerçekleştirmiştir. Ancak 2019 yılı yıllık ilerleme raporuna bakıldığında Türkiye tarafından gerçekleştirilen bu düzenlemelerin yeterli olmadığı, Türkiye’nin hala eğitim alanında AB üye ülkelerinin gerisinde kaldığı görülmüştür. Dolayısıyla Türkiye, eğitim alanına ilişkin sorunların temel nedenlerini doğru bir şekilde saptamalı, gelişmişlik düzeyi yüksek bir toplum olabilmek adına bu alanda AB tarafından belirlenen kriterleri tam anlamıyla gerçekleştirme çalışmalarını hızlandırmalıdır.

The First Stop of Transit Migrant Students on the Road to Europe and America: The Turkish Education System

The First Stop of Transit Migrant Students on the Road to Europe and America: The Turkish Education System

The Place and Importance of the Maarif Colleges in Turkish Education System

In addition to the socio-economic change and industrialization experienced in Turkey in the 1950’s, the course of the country’s international relations increased the need for foreign language-speaking personnel. Some of the decisive reasons for the Ministry of National Education for opening the Maarif Colleges include the fact that foreign language education in secondary education institutions was not adequately efficient and the schools that teach foreign languages were inadequate in number and were located in certain centers. The Maarif Colleges, established in 1955, were public schools with paid boarding facilities that provided education in Turkish and English languages. In the first stage, the Maarif Colleges were opened in Istanbul, Izmir, Samsun, Konya, Eskişehir and Diyarbakır. Turkey’s membership in NATO and its close ties with the United States after the Second World War also played an important role in the establishment and operation of the colleges. The Maarif Colleges became attractive educational institutions in a short period since they provided education in foreign language and generally high-quality education in other fields. The number of Anatolian High school built on the Maarif College experience has gradually increased over time and these schools have become the most common type of school in secondary education.