Turkey

From WAET

Yuksel Goktas
Department of Computer Education & Instructional Technology, Middle East Technical University

Burcu Orenturk Aybat
Enka Schools, Sadi Gulcelik Spor Sitesi

The general characteristics of Turkey regarding economic conditions, demographic and geographical settings set the stage for discussion of the nation. Table 1 presents an overview of information about Turkey.

The average Gross National Income Per Capita (GNP) in Turkey is $5,008. The major industries include food processing, mining, automotive production, construction materials, petroleum products, iron, steel, cotton, textiles, leather goods, beer, wine and various other foodstuffs. Within the past several years, the nation as a whole has experienced significant growth in the areas of industrial production, foreign trade, capital markets, construction, investing, and professional services. The major trading partners are Germany, Russia, Italy, UK, France and the USA (TurkStat, 2005).

Figure 1. Location of Turkey in the World (Europa, 2006)

As of 2005, the population estimate is 72,065,000 people. It is the second largest country in Europe when measured by population. More than 60% of the population resides in cities. The rate of population growth is approximately 1.5% per year. Seventy-percent of the population is below 35 years of age (TurkStat, 2005).

Turkey has a unique geographical location, linking Asia to Europe. The land area of Turkey is 780,580 square kilometers, of which 756,202 are in Asia and 24,378 are located in Europe. Greece and Bulgaria border on the European side; while Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, (which were a part of the former USSR) Iran, Iraq and Syria (which are part of the Middle East) border on the Asian. The sea surround it on three sides: the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean to the south, and the Aegean Sea to the west (see Figure 1 and 2).

Figure 2. Map of Turkey (World Factbook, 2006)

Structure of the Schooling Systems

According to MoNE (2001), purpose of the Turkish education system is to increase the welfare and happiness of the Turkish citizens and Turkish society, to support and facilitate economic, social and cultural development in national unity and integration and to make the Turkish nation a constructive, creative and distinguished partner in modern civilization.

The structure of educational system includes two main sections in Turkey: formal and non-formal education. Formal education usually in school, where a person may learn basic, academic, or trade skills. There are four levels in formal education: pre-school, primary, secondary and higher education (see Figure 3). On the other hand, non-formal education sometimes called adult education or school equivalency preparation. It covers training, guidance and applied activities for an adult or out-of-school youth about general and vocational-technical subjects. In Turkey, there are four main non-formal institutions, Open Primary School, Open High School,Open Vocational and Technical School, and Open Education Faculty.

The Ministry of National Education (MoNE) and the Higher Education Council (HEC) are two main institutions, which organize and operate all levels of education. MoNE is responsible for the planning, programming, executing, monitoring and controlling of education and training services targeted at teachers and students in the educational institutions at all education levels except higher education. It is also responsible to open all kinds of formal and non-formal education institutions except higher education. The organization and duties of the MoNE consists of two divisions; central and provincial organizations. The central office of the Ministry consists of the training council, main service units, counseling and inspection units, auxiliary units, occupational and technical training research and development center, and project coordination board center are also included in the central organization. The Ministry has provincial organizations in 81 cities and 850 towns (MoNE, 2001). On the other hand, HEC is responsible for the planning, coordination, and supervision of higher education (HEC, 1998).

Figure 3. The Turkish Education System (Adapted from MoNE, 2001)

According to the MoNE statistics, there are currently about 20.5 million students, 750,000 teachers/academic staff, and 67,500 schools in the Turkish Education System. Table 2 presents a detailed overview of the system from preschool to higher education. Most of the schools are state-owned but there are private schools at all levels. State-owned schools are free of charge but students' families pay fixed tuition fee in private schools. Tuition and fees depend on conditions of schools, province etc. The text books are also provided free of charge by the government only in the state-owned primary schools.

Pre-School Education

By examining the existing data, pre-school education consists of voluntary education for children between the ages of 3-5. In the academic year 2005-2006, there were 550,146 students and 20,910 teachers in 18,539 early childhood institutions across Turkey (see Table 2).

Primary Education

In Turkey, primary education (children aged between 6 to 14 years old) is compulsory for both boys and girls. In the academic year 2005-2006, there were 10,673,935 students and 389,589 teachers in 34,990 primary education institutions. In the primary curriculum, the subject of information and communication technologies (ICT) is an elective course, when it is offered usually one hour per week. Being a literacy course, it aims to teach basic computer skills and to introduce students to some commonly used computer applications, such as word processors, paint, and communication tools. The objectives of ICT at the primary level have been defined by the MoNE. The scope is mainly on computer literacy and the use of computers to solve problems. The main objectives are as follows (MoNE, 2005):

• to develop an understanding of the practical methods of using computers,
• to learn the definitions, historical developments and ways of using computers,
• to identify the basic parts and their functions of computers,
• to use basic programs (mentioned above),
• to get information from reliable resources.

As the ICT integration into primary education, there have been efforts to spread the use of computers in the all schools. Therefore, in the academic year of 2004-2005, the number of computers had reached 131,310 and 13,410 of information technology classrooms have been established in primary schools (Akturk, 2005).

Secondary Education

After primary education in Turkey, non-compulsory secondary education begins. It covers general, vocational and technical high schools with at least 4 years of education. The goals of the secondary education are to prepare the students for higher education and/or for a vocation, which enables them to take their place in the society. In 2005-2006 academic year, 3,258,254 students were enrolled and 185,317 teachers were employed in 7,435 secondary schools This equates to around 64% general secondary education students and 36% vocational and technical education students (see Table 2).

In secondary education, ICT is a compulsory course which is offered two hours per week. It is a literacy course, focusing on basic computer skills and several commonly used computer applications, such as word processors, spreadsheets, databases, and telecommunications. As part of computer-assisted education, there have been efforts to spread the use of computers through the whole system. Thus, in the academic year of 2004-2005, the number of computers had reached 90,542, and 8,120 of information technology classrooms have been established in secondary schools (Akturk, 2005).

Tertiary Education

The upper level consists of higher education, which covers universities, faculties, institutes, higher education schools, conservatories, higher vocational education schools, and application and research centers. After completing secondary education, anyone wishing to enroll in any undergraduate university program (both state and private universities) must take the Student Selection Examination either as a complete or partial prerequisite for placement. It is a nation-wide examination administrated by the Student Selection and Placement Center every year. Student Selection Examination consists of verbal and quantitative parts. Evaluation of the results and placement of the selected students for the undergraduate programs are done by the institution (HEC, 2004).

In Turkey, higher education is defined as all post-secondary programs with duration of at least two years. There are 68 state and 26 private universities throughout the country. According to the HEC, post-secondary programs aim to train students in line with their interests, skills and abilities, and according to the national science policy and the requirements of the society for qualified workers and for labor at all levels, to perform scientific research, to produce publications that indicate research and investigation results and facilitate the advancement of science and technology, to finalize the examinations and research required by the government and comment on them, to announce in oral and written form scientific data that shall improve the general level of Turkish society and enlighten the public, and to provide non-formal education services (HEC, 2004).

Each university consists of four, five, and six year schools offering bachelors level programs. Some offer pre-bachelor's (associate's) level programs of a strictly vocational nature. On the other hand, Anadolu University in Eskisehir offers two or four year programs through distance education. The institution is unique in that it offers undergraduate education in Turkey since 1982. It is an important distance university with 483,000 students in the world. Students use printed materials, online materials, and also lectures broadcast on television and contact hours are available (HEC, 2004; Anadolu, 2006).

In 2005-2006 academic year, the total number of public and private universities was 94 in Turkey. And 82,096 teachers taught approximately 2,002,000 students at the universities (see Table 2).

Teacher Education and Training

The 1998-99 academic year in Turkey brought considerable change and development in the field of teacher education. Before this reform that took place during this period, the two-year teacher training programs were extended to four-years. In 1997 the Basic Education Law was adopted which increased the length of compulsory primary schooling from 5 to 8 years. There was thus a large need of teachers for this extended primary schooling to operate effectively. At the same time, a close and realistic look was taken at the need for teachers in each subject area, at both primary and secondary levels. Some areas such as secondary biology were greatly overburdened. In other areas, such as pre-school and languages there was a shortage of teachers.

Preservice Teacher Training

Teacher training schools cover six main categories in Turkey: 1) education faculties (schools), 2) arts and sciences faculties, 3) technical training faculties, 4) vocational training faculties, 5) trade-tourism training faculties, and 6) industrial arts training faculty. Since the abovementioned reasons and parallels the international practices in reforming preservise teacher education for the new millennium; the HEC developed a new curriculum for the schools of education of Turkey.

According to the new curricula, the “Computer” and “Instructional Technology and Material Development” courses became compulsory in both primary and secondary pre-service teacher education programs. The main purpose of “Computer” which is a computer literacy course is to teach basic computer skills and to introduce teachers to several commonly used computer applications, such as word processors, spreadsheets, databases, telecommunications, and presentations programs. In “Instructional Technology and Material Development,” prospective teachers gain knowledge and skills in a variety of instructional technologies, and develop and evaluate technology-based instructional materials (HEC 1998; Y?ld?r?m, 2001).

In-service Training / Teacher Development

The MoNE has been conducting several in-service training activities especially on the use of ICT in education, for a successful diffusion of ICT in education at both the central and local levels every year. Those activities have been carried out with the corporation of the institutions including universities and other governmental and non-governmental institutions. MoNE provides in-service training courses covering computer operation, Microsoft Windows, internet operation, Adobe Authorware, Macromedia DreamWeaver, web design, Adobe Premier, Adobe Photoshop, database, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Excel in order to: a) expand computer and other technology assisted education practice, b) make use of computers in education, teaching, and management services, and to c) establish communication between central and provincial organizations and institutions (MoNE, 2001).

ICT Policies

Parallel to the international trend of the increasing importance of ICT in education worldwide, Turkey started ICT-related initiatives as early as 1984. There have been some projects going on related with integration of ICT in Turkey’s educational system (Goktas, Yildirim, and Yildirim, 2006a). MoNE aims to integrate ICT into the Turkish education system via certain policies and development strategies in order to keep pace with the information age, and become a society focus on information and technology. In this sense, MoNE (2005) promoted the following goals:

• ICT hardware and software will be provided in every school,
• secure and fast Internet connection will be provided to all schools,
• at least one computer with an the Internet connection will be provided in every village school,
• all students, teachers, directors, parents and the school staff will be able to access ICT,
• ICT class with 20+1 computers per 500 students, at least 2 computers with the Internet and intranet connection per teachers’ room and at least 1 computer will be provided with the same specs for the guidance services, libraries and administration offices,
• necessary in-service training courses will be provided in order to ensure that teachers, students, directors and the school staff are able to use ICT and successfully take the advantage of it during the educational processes,
• current curriculum will be transformed into a student-centered one and it will be provided that students access information by using ICT tools by themselves during their learning processes,
• necessary environment will be arranged for creating and using a qualified digital content. Work will be carried on in order to ensure that the digital content provides a self-teaching environment for the students,
• work will be carried on in order to diminish the digital divide and ICT at schools will be available to all citizens,
• School Technical Support Centers will be established in order to provide the necessary technical support for the update and continuous maintenance of the ICT hardware at schools.

There have been a number of parallel projects related to the integration of ICT in Turkey’s educational system. At the end of National Education Development Project (with the World Bank and HEC), faculties of education reconstructed regarding to their curriculum to train teacher candidates with abilities and skills to use ICT effectively in their subject areas in 1998. After this year, the number of ICT projects increased. For instance, the first phase of the basic education project (with the World Bank) started in 1998. The scope of the project was to build information technology classrooms in at least 2 primary education schools in 80 cities and every town, and the identified schools were grouped according to number of students. In that context, 2,834 information technology classrooms have been scheduled to be built in 2,451 primary education schools all over the country. This number has been increased to 2,802 with 351 newly constructed schools (see Table 3). The establishment of information technology classrooms in these schools has been completed in all cities and towns. Table 3 and the following parts provide a list of projects in which ICT integration and diffusion has been of high importance by the MoNE to supply the aforementioned strategies (MoNE, 2001; MoNE, 2005; Goktas, 2003; Yildirim, 2005):

1. MoNE Project for Providing Access to the Internet: The aim of the project is to provide students with access, use, production and sharing information via e-learning. In cooperation with Turk Telekom Inc., fast, secure and cheap access to the Internet is aimed in time periods between February 2004 and end of 2005. Until end of 2005, approximately 21,500 K-12 schools have been provided with ADSL broadband internet connection, that 85 % of the K-12 students have Internet connection in their schools, and the work to improve this continues (Keskinkilic, 2004).
2. Education for the Future (in cooperation with Intel): This project aims to train 50,000 teachers in three years period for computer literacy. By the end of 2005, 30,000 teachers had completed the program. It aims to train 200.000 more teachers by the end of 2006 (Aytac, 2004).
3. Vocational Training through Distance Learning: With the co-operation of MoNE with Sakarya University, this project aims to to improve lifelong learning in accordance with the students’ and work life needs, and provide training for a profession.
4. Learning Centers: This project was launched by MoNE in order to provide access ICT resources (computer, printer, Internet access etc.), peers support about the use of ICT, life long learning with some certificates programs, and to provide face-to-face learning for open education students.
5. E-learning-Education Portals: This project aims to establish education portals especially for teachers, students, school administrators, and parents in order to increase the quality of education and reduce the digital gap in education (Akturk, 2005). In this context, the ministry has initiated 3 national web portal projects as:

• It is a information access portal for school administrators, primary school teachers, parents and students (http://bep.meb.gov.tr)
• Skoool: It is include extra-curricular activities about science and mathematics for primary school students (http://skoool.meb.gov.tr/)
• Teachers’ Portal: It is include unit plans, course activities, and some support materials for teachers (http://ttkb.meb.gov.tr/ogretmen)

On the other hand, General Directorate of Educational Technologies (EGITEK) is the most important institution in the MoNE in regards to ICT organization and implementation of the ICT projects. This institution was established in 1998 by the unification of the General Directorate of Computer Education and Services and the Center for Education through Films, Radio and Television. EGITEK, carries on its services through the Department of Management of Revolving Funds as well as through general budget allocations. The main functions of the General Directorate of Educational Technologies include (MONE, 2005):

• conducts research, project, development, follow up, and assessment and evaluation studies to support education with technological developments, and to plan for extensive usage of technology in education.
• offers educational opportunities throughout the country and in some international centers via distance education.
• produces or purchases visual, auditory, printed and computer based educational materials,
• establishes computer laboratories in schools, trains the related personnel, and offers maintenance services.

ICT Usage in Turkey

The State Institute of Statistics released the results of the 2004 ICT usage survey. This survey was the first country-wide attempt to present a big picture of the ICT use across the country (TurkStat, 2004). According to the results of the ICT Usage Survey on Households and Individuals, in the period of April-June 2004, of all the individuals in 16-74 age group, the percentage of computer use was 16.8 % and the Internet use was 13.3 %. Specifically, of the 47 million individuals in the 16-74 age group, 7.9 million of them use computer and 6.2 million use the Internet. The same survey results indicated that, 9.98 % of the households have a PC (personal computer), 53.64 % have mobile phone, 92.19 % have television, and 5.86 % of households have access to the Internet via PC while 2.08 % access via mobile phone (see Table 4).

Main Barriers of ICT Integration into K-12 Schools in Turkey

The results of a survey conducted with K-12 teachers, lists the main barriers to the ICT integration into their schools. These results are presented in Table 5 using five-point Likert-type scales. As shown, “lack of in-service training about ICT” (M=4.17), “lack of technical support” (M=4.14), “lack of hardware” (M=4.10) are the most significant barriers in integrating ICT into K-12 schools (Goktas, Yildirim, and Yildirim, 2006b).

Turkey has faced important educational challenges, with great number of students and teachers, great land area, a very large educational system, and poor economic conditions at the beginning of this century. Students and teachers constitute around 30% of the Turkish population. Under these conditions, providing high quality and cost-effective education and training has become critical,. Turkey’s educators and policy makers have tried to overcome these challenges by developing new approaches in education. In these contexts, ICT is such a new approach as enhancing the dissemination of information and meeting these challenges. Distance education, Internet, computers and CAI are very important alternatives to help solve Turkey’s educational and instructional challenges. By using those technologies, despite the budgetary restrictions in developing countries, Turkey can decrease the educational and instructional challenges (Usun, 2004). It also can integrate ICT into the all education levels via above-mentioned policies and strategies in order to keep pace with the information age and continue to assist in the modernization of Turkey.

References

Akturk, N. (2005). A Voyage to the Information Society: ICT in Education. Retrieved December 2005, from, http://www.bilgitoplumu.gov.tr/dbtz/dbtz/MEB-Sunum.pdf

Anadolu. (2006). General Information about Anadolu University Open Education Faculty. Retrieved May, 2006, from http://www.aof.anadolu.edu.tr/eindex.htm

Aytac, T. (2004). Egitim Portali. Bilim ve Aklin Aydinliginda Egitim, 4(48). BEP. (2006). Bilgiye Erisim Portali. Retrieved April, 2006, from http://bep.meb.gov.tr

Europa. (2006). Maps of the EU. Retrieved May, 2006, from http://europa.eu.int/abc/maps/index_en.htm# General Directorate of Population and Citizenship. (2005). Population Statistics. Retrieved December, 2005, from http://www.nvi.gov.tr/

Goktas, Y. (2003). A Comparative Study between the European Union Countries’ and Turkey’s Education Systems Regarding the Integration of Information and Communication Technologies. M.Sc. Thesis. Middle East Technical University, Ankara, TURKEY.

Goktas, Y., Yildirim, Z. & Yildirim, S. (2006a). The Use of ICT in Turkey’s K-12 Schools Teachers. In C. Crawford et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference 2006 (pp. 1570-1575). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.

Goktas, Y., Yildirim, Z. & Yildirim, S. (2006b). Obstacles and Their Solutions in Integrating ICT into K-12 Schools in Turkey. In C. Crawford et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference 2006 (pp. 1565-1569). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.

HEC. (1998). Reorganization of Teaching Training Programs of Faculties of Education. Ankara, Turkey. HEC. (2004). Current Status of Higher Education System. Council of Higher Education. Retrieved November, 2005, from, http://www.yok.gov.tr/egitim/raporlar/raporlar.htm

HEC. (2005). Turk Yuksek Ogretiminin Bugunku Durum. TC. Yuksek Ogretim Kurulu. Ankara.

Istanbul Directorate of National Education. (2004). The Handbook of Educational Institutions, Istanbul.

Istanbul Directorate of Planning and Coordination. (2000). Retrieved December, 2005, from http://www.istanbul.gov.tr Keskinkilic, F. (2004). Milli Egitim Bakanligi Internet'e Erisim Projesi. Bilim ve Aklin Aydinliginda Egitim, 4(48).

MoNE. (2001). National Education at the Beginning of 2002. Republic of Turkey MoNE Research, Planning and Coordination Board. Retrieved December, 2005, from http://www.meb.gov.tr

MoNE. (2004). Ministry of National Education. Retrieved November, 2005, from http://apk.meb.gov.tr/

MoNE. (2005). Ministry of National Education. Retrieved January, 2006, from, http://www.meb.gov.tr

MoNE. (2006). Education Levels in the Academic Year 2005-2006. MoNE Directorate for Strategy Development. Ankara

Skoool. (2006). Ogrenme ve Ogretme Teknolojisi. Retrieved April, 2006, from http://skoool.meb.gov.tr

Teachers’ Portal. (2006). Ogretmenler Portali. Retrieved April, 2006, from http://ttkb.meb.gov.tr/ogretmen).

TurkStat (State Institute of Statistics). (2003). Distribution of Household Incomes. Retrieved January, 2006, from, http://www.die.gov.tr

TurkStat. (2004). ICT Usage Survey on Household and Individuals 2004. Retrieved January 2006, from http://www.bilgitoplumu.gov.tr/yayin/SIS_IT_Usage_TR_2004.xls

TurkStat. (2005). SDDS Release Calendar 2005/2006. Retrieved January, 2006, from, http://www.die.gov.tr Usun, S. (2004). Instructional technologies in the world and Turkey (A comparative review). AACE Journal, 12(3), 249-279.

World Factbook. (2006). Turkey in the World Factbook. Retrieved May, 2006, from http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/tu.html

Yildirim, S. (2001). Current Utilization of Information Technology in the Turkish Education System: Issues and Obstacles. Paper presented at the seminar “Learning and Teaching in the Communication Society” of Council of Europe, Strasbourg.

Yildirim, S. (2005). The Role of E-Learning in Teachers and Trainers Training (TTT) in Turkey. Unpublished Research Report. METU.

Notes

1. This data for 2005
2. This data for 2004
3. Candidate member of the European Union (EU)
4. The numbers include both public and private institutions for all level
5. The numbers for academic year 2004-2005
6. HEC, 2005

Related cases

Istanbul

Focuses on Enka Schools in Istanbul, a private educational system. Present the case of two students in Enka.

About the authors

Yuksel Goktas has completed his B.S. degree in Department of Computer Education from Gazi University. He also received an M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Education and Instructional Technology from Middle East Technical University in Turkey. He was a visiting schoolar at Purdue University's Educational Technology Program during 2005-2006. Dr. Yuksel is interested in technology integration, technology policies in education, service learning, problem based learning, and history of IT

Burcu Orenturk Aybat is currently employed at Enka Schools, Istanbul, Turkey as computer teacher and educational technologist supporting teachers to integrate technologies into their classes. She graduated from Middle East Technical University with a B.S. and M.S. degree in Computer Education and Instructional Technology. Her research interests include methods of integrating technology into curriculum, training teachers to integrate technology effectively into their classrooms, research-based learning, use of research techniques in multidisciplinary environment, computer mediated communication (CMC) technologies in education. She has been working for six years in primary and high schools in Turkey

Citation

APA Citation: Goktas, Y. & Aybat, B. O. (2006). Turkey. In M. Orey, T. Amiel, & J. McClendon (Eds.), The web almanac of educational technologies. Retrieved <insert date>, from http://www.waet.uga.edu/