Education Population

• The population of Turkey 71 517 100 (2008 Year).

• Young Population 0-29 age group constitutes 52.8 % of the country population.

• The population in compulsory education age group (6-14 ages) is 11 527 000.

Administrative Control - Ministry of National Education (MoNE)

Administrative legislation and supervision related to formal and non-formal education (except for higher education) is performed by MoNE. MoNE is responsible for preparing curriculum, maintaining coordination between educational institutions, construction of school buildings etc.

Pre-primary Education Pre-primary education is an optional education stage covering the education of children between 36 and 72 months. All pre-primary education institutions are under the supervision of MoNE. Main pre-primary education providers are MoNE, some public institutions and private education institutions. •Kindergartens 3 -6 age

•Nursery classes or practice classes 5 – 6 age

Compulsory Education

• Compulsory education is 8 years.

• Schooling rate in primary education is 96.49% (2008/09 school year).

• The maximum number of pupils per class as officially specified is 30. This number is avarage 40-50 in the city centers, but in the villages this can be 15-20.

Primary School Grade 1 – 8 Ages 6 – 14

• All schools are in co-education.

• For grades 1 to 5, in general classroom teachers are individually responsible for their classes. However, in grades 6 to 8 and some subjects (e.g. physical training, music, art, foreign language) in grades 4 and 5 are delivered by field specialists.

Curriculum Control and ContentThe curriculum is determined at national level by MoNE Turkish Board of Education.

In primary schools, courses are determined according to the grades.

Compulsory core courses Turkish, math, sciences, science and technology, social sciences, civic, history, foreign language, religion and ethics, drawing, music, physical education, traffic and first-aid training and miscellaneous individual and collective activities. Elective courses Computer education, drama, speech and writing, a second foreign language, tourism, agriculture and animal husbandry, and local handicrafts.

Types of education School types Ages General Secondary Education General High School

Anatolian High School

Science High School

Social Science High School

Fine Art and Sports High School Anatolian Teacher High School

Multi-Programmed High Schools

14-17

Vocational and Technical Secondary Education

Technical High School

Industrial Vocational Schools

Hotel and Tourism Vocational High School

Business High School

Health Vocational High School and the others

14-17

Types of education/Institutions

Post-compulsory education/upper secondary and post-secondary level

•Secondary education is provided in general, vocational and technical education institutions offering at four years of education for those who have completed primary education.

•Secondary education covers 14-17 age cord.

•In 2008/09 academic year, net schooling rate in •secondary education was 58.56%.

Higher Education

Structure Higher education institutions consist of universities, higher technology institutes and independent vocational higher schools. Except the very few independent vocational higher schools, higher education institutions are gathered under the frame of university/higher technology institute.

Universities (including higher technology institutes) consist of at least some of the following affiliated units:

•Faculties: bodies responsible for undergraduate education (four years), scholarly research and publications. •Graduate schools: institutions for graduate education within universities. There are basically three kinds of graduate schools in the fields of health, social sciences and sciences. •Vocational higher schools: Vocationally oriented two or four years school.

Teachers and Education StaffTransition of Teacher Education to the Universities Situation and Developments after 1982 (all stages)

•With the Decree Law No 41 dated July 20, 1982, all the institutions training teachers, affiliated to the MoNE as all the higher education institutions other than universities were affiliated to universities.

•With the Regulation in 1982, basic resource of teacher training for elementary schools, lower secondary schools and secondary schools became faculties of education.

•By the year of 1997, HEC (Higher Education Committee) rearranges teacher education, names of the departments, divisions and programs were reorganized, curricula are developed and teacher education for primary education (in 1997, compulsory education was expanded to 8 years, first schools and middle schools were united under the name of primary education by the law numbered 4306) and secondary education were restructured.

•Initial teacher training programs were updated in 2006-2007.

Institutions, Level and Models of Training

Teacher education institutions, levels and duration may be grouped:Faculty of Education

•Programs training teachers for primary education (teachers for pre-primary education, teachers for primary schools, teachers of sciences etc.): at the undergraduate level (4 years),•Programs training teachers for secondary education (teachers of physics, of history etc.): master’s level (5 years),

• Programs training teachers for both of the stages (teachers of music, painting, foreign language, physical training etc.): at the undergraduate level (4 years).• Other Faculties (Faculty of Art and Sciences ) MA Degree not requiring a thesis following bachelor’s degree (1.5 year).• Teacher Training for Vocational and Technical Education• Faculties of Vocational Education at undergraduate level (4 years)• Faculties of Technical Education at undergraduate level (4 years)

In-service Training • It is obligatory for the in-service training activities to be performed in accordance with the defined regulations and planning by the Directoriate for In-service Training. Also, in order to provide the teachers with opportunity to have education at the higher education level at home and abroad, the teachers are granted paid or unpaid vacation.

• On the other hand, MoNE has a tendency to use the e-learning methods for the vocational development of the teachers in a more widespread manner. Examples of these are the training portal in MoNE Web Site, data access portal (Global Gateway, Skool.tr Portal, think.com), Microsoft Collaboration in Education (Distance Teacher Training) Programs.

• Participation to the in-service-tarining activities (except primary education seminaries) are not compulsory. But, in the placement to some positions, in-service training related with that position may be reason of preference. Additionally, in moving up the steps of career, in service and upper level trainings of the teachers are also credited.

Ongoing Debates and Future Developments

• Revision of Teacher Training Programs (2006-2007): Following the comprehensive program makingradical changes on teacher training commenced in 1997, HEC made some changes in said program having been conducted more than eight years in 2006.

• Teacher Qualification Studies by the MoNE: MoNE General Directoriate for Teacher Training has completed the “teacher competences” study carried out in the context of a Project (TEDP) supported by European Union and was put into effect in the frame of an “action plan”.

• This study is expected to have orienting function on the determinig teacher education policies and on the subjects of pre-service teacher training programs, in-service-tarining of the teachers, teacher selection, evaluation of teacher performance, etc.

• Accreditation of Teacher Training Programs: HEC brought the issue of Faculty of Education Accreditation in Turkey into the agenda in 1998 by a series of studies and activities, and between 1998-2002 pilot studies were conducted. It is expected that these studies are started once more under the Bologna Process.

Current Reforms in the Turkish Education System

In Turkish education system, a series of renovations and developments have been implemented in various subjects in recent years; and currently a series of reforms are being planned and discussed.

MoNE realizes various reform studies to create a welfare society dominating science and technology, using technology consciously and producing new technology, gathering the ability to transform technological advancements to social and economical profit, valued position in the world and integrate European Union countries.

•Master Plan on Education: 1996 – 2011

•Project for Being Abreast of the Time in Education 2000

•Basic Education Program (BEP) I. and II. Phase: Phase I and II of the roject has been finished.

Basic Education Program (BEP) I. and II. Phase

By means of this program, it is aimed to ensure the advancement given below to expand primary education, increase the quality and make schools learning centers of society.

• Increase the rate of attendance to schools in eight-year primary education from 86% to 100%,

• Increase the rate of attendance in pre-school education from 7% to 16%,

• Create additional capacity at schools (additional capacity for 3,5 million pupils)

• Reduce the numbers present in classrooms to 30,

• Abolish dual education in time,

• Teach at least one foreign language to each pupil,

• Generalize usage of computer technologies in education (Establishing computer labs in every primary education schools)

• Improving the conditions of all schools in rural areas (35 000 schools).

Developments in the Turkish Education System

1. Schooling rate in pre-primary education has been increased from 11.8 % in 2002/03 to 33 % in 2008/09.

2. Lengthening the Term of Compulsory Education: 4306 numbered Law (dated 18.08.1997) stipulatesincrease in the duration of compulsory education to 8 years and undertaking primary education in integrity (merger of primary education and lower secondary education institutions) is adopted and entered into force.

3. Lengthening of term of secondary education (high schools) to four years: Within the framework ofstructures intended for restructuring of the upper secondary education, 07.06.2005 dated and 184numbered resolution of the Talim ve Terbiye Kurulu (TTK) stipulates increase in academic term ofthree - year vocational and technical high schools and general high schools gradually to 4 yearsbeginning from the 9th grades as of 2005-2006 academic year.

4. Developing an effective guidance and orientation system which improves individual and social life.

5. Primary and secondary education curricula have been renovated with a constructivist approach between 2004 and 2006. Connected to these, new textbooks, teacher manuals, and student workbooks have been issued and provided free to primary education students starting from 2002 and secondary education students starting from 2006.

6. General and vocational secondary education institutions have been re-constructed so as to depend on program variation instead of school variation to be implemented starting from 2009/10. These efforts are ongoing.

7. School-industry relationships in vocational and technical education have been developing. Also, an e-graduate (alumni follow-up) project has been started to gather data on high school graduates’ transition to work.

8. By means of public resources and contributions of non-profit agencies and organizations 130 thousands classrooms have constructed and schooling capacity have developed between 2003 and 2008. This number corresponds to 31 % of total number of classrooms constructed until 2003.

9. To meet the intense social demand to higher education, the number of public and private higher education institutions has been increased significantly. In this context, 54 new universities have been constructed (13 of them are private universities) in last five years.

10. To enhance teacher quality, in the system of pre-service teacher training several regulations have been conducted since 1997. In the context of these efforts, the graduation level of secondary school teachers has increased from four to five years. The practices related with the in-service-training of teachers are increasing gradually. In this context, in the scope of 'education for future' project, 500 thousands of teachers are targeted to become computer literate until 2011. 96 thousands teachers have been educated so far.

11. To widespread information technologies in the schools, ADSL connection has provided to all schools (31 922 schools) having sufficient infrastructure. According to this effort, 96 % of the students in primary and secondary schools can access internet connected computer.

Ongoing Debates in the Turkish Education System

MoNE has carried out innovative efforts to increase standards of Turkish education system to that of OECD and EU countries. Some of these efforts can be summarized as follows:

● Studies on restructuring MoNE

● Lowering the Starting Age of Primary (Compulsory) EducationThe 17th National Educational Counsil gathered in 13-17 November 2006 has proposed that the studies must begin as early as possible to lower the beginning age of primary education as making the last year of pre-primary education (the era 60th - 72th months) compulsory (http://www.ttkb.meb.gov.tr). Parallel to the recommendation, MoNE is considering to lower the starting age to primary schools from 6 to 5, beginning with the 2008-2009 Education Term. It is planned that the implementation of the initiation will be completed by the year 2013, as proposed in 9th development plan.

● Transportable Schools and Mobile Teachers ProjectsMoNE has initiated a project for the purpose of giving opportunity to the pupils in remote rural areas with no school. It is reported that pre-fabric mobile schools built in one week are available. These schools have almost every facility in it. Additionally, the project will provide economical saving. Similarly, MoNE initiates a new project called “Mobile Teacher Project”. The main purpose of the project is to prevent having some schools where lectures can not be thought due to lack of teacher, especially in remote rural areas.

● Action Plan for Reducing and Preventing Violance in Educational Settings (2006-2011)● Education for the Future” Program It has been reported on the MoNE Budget Report for the Year 2008 that 500 thousand teachers will be given computer courses by the year 2011 through the mentioned program. ● e- State Project

MoNE e-Personnel ProjectMoNE e- Gradute ProjectMoNE e-Registration ProjectMoNE e-School Project

Thanks;

For more detailed information on the education systems in Turkey, you may consult the EURYDICE data base, EURYBASE (http://www.eurydice.org)