OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES IN EDUCATION

National Education At The Beginning Of 2002

National Education, shall be reorganized in an integral system that teaches everyone the means and methods to access information through lifelong learning, includes an effective guidance system, enables horizontal and vertical transition, conform to the vocational standards in the market, gives emphasis to education for production, cares for equality of opportunity, and tries to solve the problems in the university entrance system.

Scientific and technological activity programs shall be developed and supported at all education levels to ensure mental development and focus on research and creativity.

Pre-Primary Education

Secondary Education

Special Education

Continuous Education

Pre-Primary Education

Primary Education

Secondary Education

OBJECTIVES, POLICIES AND STRATEGIES IN THE TURKISH EDUCATION SYSTEM
OBJECTIVES	POLICIES	STRATEGIES
To ensure that at every level of the education system all citizens and all students make use of the education services in line with their interests, aspirations and abilities, and with the principles of social justice and equality of opportunity.	To provide education services in line with the principles of equality of opportunity among individuals and social justice among the regions based on the Laws of the Republic.	Education opportunities in underdeveloped regions shall be increased. Education services shall take care of the differences of development among regions. In order to ensure that materially deprived successful students can attend schools, practices such as government scholarships, Regional Boarding Primary Schools Boarding Primary Education Schools and Secondary Education with free boarding shall be implemented.
To expand Pre-Primary education, to bring enrollment rate to the levels of EU and OECD countries and to ensure that every child attends compulsory education after having Pre-Primary education.	To spread Pre-Primary education and eight years of compulsory education countrywide.	Enrollment rates in Pre-Primary education shall be increased by giving priority to disadvantaged social groups and underdeveloped regions.
To school all the population balanced against the expected increase in the population.	To increase the enrollment rate, particularly for girls, and to extend compulsory education to 12 years.	Material resources, human resources, physical capacity and other equipment conditions shall be provided in order to extend compulsory education to 12 years.
To achieve balance in number of students per class in line with EU standards.
To increase the compulsory education period to 12 years.
To restructure the education system by considering the relations among education-manpower-employment.	To identify short-, medium- and long-term employment-education requirements of the Turkish Republic on a sectoral basis and to establish the balance between education-manpower-employment.	Secondary education shall be restructured by giving emphasis to vocational and technical secondary education.
To establish balance between the employment requirements and the number of students to be educated at universities.		In secondary education, a variety of schools shall be replaced by a variety of programs.
To raise intermediate manpower through vocational-technical education.
To structure the non-formal education services so that opportunity of lifelong education shall be provided for everyone who wishes to have a profession, to improve in his/her profession and/or to change his/her profession.	To develop lifelong education with an understanding of continuous education.	Non-formal education activities shall be expanded starting from underdeveloped regions. Non-formal education maps shall be prepared. Maximum opportunities shall be provided for young girls and women.
To establish functional links among distance education-formal education-public education.		The effectiveness of Parent education shall be heightened.
To expand the target population in continuous education so that all of society shall be included.

NATIONAL EDUCATION PROFILE

TURKISH PEOPLE

SCHOOL

EDUCATION

Individuals are raised as people of the Information Age who;

· have the mentality to protect Atatürk’s principles and revolution, the basic principles of the Republic, the national culture and ethical values,

· have assimilated the national culture,

· can interpret different cultures,

· can contribute to modern civilization,

· act nationally, think universally,

· can adopt and implement philosophical way of thinking,

· have advanced skills of thinking, perception, problem-solving,

· are democratic,

· are advocates of freedom,

· are committed to moral values,

· are open to new ideas,

· have feelings of personal responsibility,

· can use science and technology,

· are productive,

· are creative.

In line with the general goals and basic principles of national education, the school organization;

· has an identity,

· is a learning institution,

· is an information center open to its surroundings, enabling mass education,

· is the basis for socio-cultural communication and support,

· is the symbol of civilisation,

· is the protector of cultural assets and an insurance for the future,

· is a continuing education center.

The Turkish National Education System is;

· Republican,

· Secular,

· Committed to Atatürk’s principles and revolution,

· Democratic,· Scientific,· Modern,· Continuous,

· Cares for cooperation between school and family,

· Values concepts of educational rights, generality and equality as well as equality of opportunity,

· Identifies students in line with their interests, aspirations and skills and plans them according to social requirements,

· Coeducational, and functional everywhere in terms of education.

SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT MODEL
SCHOOL VISION	SCHOOL MISSION	SCHOOL PRINCIPLES	SCHOOL STRATEGIES
· Learning at school must be considered a basic need. · Legal custodians should make sure that the student is given all kinds of opportunities for learning. · Both teachers and learners must believe that they help each other’s learning and development. · Employees must be sure of themselves in terms of their profession. · Everyone must try to be better everyday. · The school must be aware that it is the guarantee of socio-cultural assets, civilization and the future.	The school is there to ensure that all students learn, to give them the opportunity to grow up happily as knowledgeable and skilful individuals with self-confidence, in line with their interests, aspirations and abilities, and to make them acquire the skills to meet the developing requirements of the 21st century.	· Priority must be given to teach the students how to learn. · Students and their legal custodians are supported and developed to meet the continuously developing expectations of society. · Individual differences among the students are considered.· Differences and different viewpoints are considered of value. · Skills are developed continuously to adapt to the new learning methods and techniques. · School is the place of changing and developing behavior.	Strategy: Teaching methods that are suitable for the principle of “All students can learn” are used. Purpose: To increase the success of all students, to reduce the level of difference between learning differences, to realize learning in line with interests, aspirations and abilities. Strategy: School is a social institution and parents/legal custodians are an indispensable support for the school.Purpose: to increase confidence in schools and guardian participation, to make the school the learning center of the surroundings. Strategy: “Leadership” is a distinguished way of behaving in the school atmosphere. Purpose: To develop leadership behavior and its effectiveness in the entire school and to support the development of a balanced personality.

1. OBJECTIVES IN EDUCATION
The main purpose of the education system is to raise highly skilful, productive and creative individuals of the Information Age who are committed to Atatürk's principles and revolution, have advanced thinking, perception and problem-solving skills, are committed to democratic values and open to new ideas, have feelings of personal responsibility, have assimilated national culture, can interpret different cultures and contribute to modern civilization, and lean towards productive science and technology.
The versatile and comprehensive EDUCATION REFORM, which shall ensure that student-centered education is carried out in all kinds and at all levels of education in line with the requirements of the time and society, that no individual is left out of the education process for any reason, and that professional development and employment conditions of the teachers are improved, started in 1997 and is going to continue in the 2000's.

- BASIC EDUCATION, which involves Pre-Primary and primary education and is an essential prerequisite for everyone shall be realized on a nation-wide basis.

- SECONDARY and HIGHER EDUCATION, which ensures effective, efficient and continuous participation of the business community, and aims to help people have valid jobs suitable for themselves and in compliance with the needs of the time and society, shall be realized.

- CONTINUOUS EDUCATION, which shall ensure that the individuals can adapt themselves to a changing world as well as the frequently and significantly changing or developing professions, having all the society as its target population, shall be widely implemented.

1.1. GENERAL OBJECTIVES
The qualitative and quantitative objectives for the 2000's have been determined by considering the measures of developed countries, particularly of the EU and the OECD countries, and the requirements of our country. The general objectives are,

- Increasing the average education period in our country from 5 years in 1997 to at least 8 years
- To equalize the education level in our country for males and females living in rural and urban areas
- To provide equality of opportunity in all kinds and at all levels of education
- To reach the EU indicators in all levels of education
- To increase student success at all levels of education
- To develop course books and to give them functionality in all education institutions
- To increase efficiency of resource utilization in investments and current expenditures
- To make room for specialization services at all levels of the education system.

1.2. SPECIAL OBJECTIVES

It has been aimed,
- Depending on the degree to which teachers requirements are met, to increase the enrollment rate in Pre-Primary education to the level of developed countries, particularly of the EU and the OECD countries,

- Because social, psychological and mental development occurs at early ages, Pre-Primary education shall be spread all over the country, ensuring equality of opportunity.
- Depending on the balancing of population growth, to maintain the enrollment rate in the population of all ages, and to increase students' success by focusing on quality of education,
- To increase the quality of education in the primary education schools (Transportation centers, Regional Boarding Primary Schools, Boarding Primary Education Schools) that serve the students living in small settlement areas,
- To increase the quality in primary schools where combined classrooms are concerned and to minimize the number of such schools,
- To extend the Open Primary School regulation to include everyone who is past the compulsory education age and has not completed his/her primary education,
- To spread the guidance services, so as to ensure psychological and physical as well as mental development of children,
- To achieve balance all over the country starting from the areas where classroom population is above the country average,
- To provide students an opportunity to learn at least one foreign language,
- To teach a second foreign language,
- To establish workshops in all primary schools.
- To increase the period of compulsory education to 12 years, depending on the degree to which complete schooling is achieved in primary education and legal regulations are made in relation to the allocation of resources to complete the secondary education infrastructure,
- To school all the population between ages 14-17,
- To school 65% of the students in vocational technical education and 35% in other secondary education institutions,
- To restructure the system so that youths between 14-17 are prepared for a profession and/or for higher education,
- To strengthen the local organization in relation to the preparation and implementation of vocational and technical education curricula,
- To implement vocational and technical education curricula so as to ensure the attainment of international standards,
- To enable that vocational and technical school graduates may enter the vocational higher education without having to take an exam and that graduates of such higher education may be vertically transferred to undergraduate programs in their areas,

- To spread special education parallel to the requirements,
- To implement applied special education programs in order to help all special education students acquire vocational skills,

- To ensure flexibility of space, equipment, personnel and program in schools where children receiving special education shall be trained together with normally developing children, so that all students' requirements can be met,
- To help extraordinarily intelligent children with superior abilities to receive guidance and counseling support during Pre-Primary and primary education period and to provide them with suitable learning environments,

- To provide education and learning opportunities for everyone, everywhere and at all times, using the approach of information centers in remote education institutions including the requirement of one-to-one education,
- To establish a functional relationship between open education and formal education,
- To improve qualitatively and quantitatively the in-service training given to teachers,
- To improve the effectiveness of parent education,
- To support and develop all opportunities of non-formal education which is based on the adoption of lifelong learning in society,
- To increase the activities aimed at skills development and profession acquisition of the youth, particularly those who cannot attend university,
- To encourage the continuous education activities of the local governments, volunteer organizations and private sector,
- To produce services in various areas such as orientation in business areas, professions and vocational schools, utilization of manpower and entrepreneurship, citizenship, development of ethical and esthetical values, vocational

and skills training, opportunities for those who wish to change their vocation,
- to extend the target population of continuous education to include all of society.

2. STRATEGIES IN EDUCATION
2.1. GENERAL STRATEGIES
- Remote education methods shall be developed by making maximum use of technological facilities, particularly computer technology, at all levels of education.
- Computer-assisted education shall be expanded to include all levels of education, particularly primary education institutions, and schools shall be equipped with tools and equipment to meet the needs of the 21st century.
- In order to meet the teacher requirements at all levels of education, teacher training projects executed in collaboration with higher education institutions shall continue besides the existing teacher training system; also, for the areas where adequate number of teachers cannot be employed due to insufficient resources and salaries, contracted teachers shall be employed under better conditions.
- For the performance evaluation of teaching institutions, a model that includes total quality management and is based on performance measurement shall be developed.
- Financing opportunities shall be developed and existing resources used effectively in order to improve the education institutions in terms of physical infrastructure, equipment, curriculum and teachers, all of which directly influence the quality of education.

- The necessary efforts shall be made in order to provide the contribution of local government, volunteer organizations and private sector as well as the central government to the expansion of education.
- The practice of education regions shall be made more effective in order to ensure efficiency of resource utilization in the education system.
- Guidance services shall be implemented at all levels of education, starting from Pre-Primary.

2.2. SPECIAL STRATEGIES
- In Pre-Primary education investments, priority and emphasis shall be given to areas of settlement with the lowest rate of schooling and to the metropolitan cities and industrial areas where the population growth rate is high.
- Savings shall be realized in the investment resources by opening at least one nursery in all primary schools and in secondary schools with sufficient physical capacity.
- In order to increase the number of teachers in Pre-Primary education, teachers shall be trained for Pre-Primary education institutions using remote teaching methods.
- Number of schools and classrooms shall be increased by giving priority and emphasis to the areas of settlement where classroom capacity is above the country average and where a high rate of immigration is concerned.
- Bussed Primary Education, particularly for students at 6th-8th grades, shall continue in small areas of settlement with convenient climate and transportation conditions. Children living in other areas with an inconvenient climate and transportation problems shall be educated in Regional Boarding Primary Schools and Boarding Primary Education Schools.

- Measures shall be taken to improve the quality of education in schools with combined classrooms.
- The practice of meeting the expenses of school uniform, school bag, books, notebooks, etc. of materially deprived children shall continue.
- Starting from the eight grade of primary education, vocational guidance service shall be provided and students shall be oriented to an area/section in secondary education in line with their interests, aspirations and abilities.
- A multi-program approach rather than a variety of schools shall be adopted in secondary education.
- Curricula in vocational and technical education shall be prepared on a wide and modular basis, a flexible structure shall be brought within program integrity and continuity, enabling horizontal and vertical transition and also include post-graduate studies.
- When preparing vocational and technical education curricula, all related organizations and institutions shall be encouraged to actively participate in the decision-making process.
- The practice of full-time education all year round shall continue, using the current education opportunities.
- Horizontal and vertical transition among secondary education curricula shall be improved by making use of supplementary education.
- In small settlement areas, emphasis shall be given to multi-program high schools where different curricula are implemented together.

- By establishing cooperation and integrity between vocational formal and non-formal education, the experiences gained in the market shall be utilized in educational circles.
- Special education shall focus on vocational programs.
- Infrastructure shall be prepared for applied education.
- Related enterprises from the private sector shall be encouraged.

3. NEW APPROACHES
In order to ensure that the education system can achieve its goals, reach its targets and continuously improve itself, efforts shall be made to increase effectiveness in the functioning of management processes and in decision-making mechanisms. Management Information System for Provincial and District National Education Directorates (ILSIS), which is a part of these efforts, is a management information system to be established so that the functions of the Provincial and District National Education Directorates can be executed with support from information technology. The main objective of the information system is;
In the central organization;
- to meet daily, continuous and regular requirements,
- to meet the increasing communication needs between the central and provincial organizations of the Ministry of National Education.
In the provincial organization;
- to ensure that increasing responsibilities are effectively fulfilled and to facilitate complex procedures.
- ILSIS application software consists of 11 different modules. These modules are personnel, appointments, government institutions, statistics, archive-documentation, budget-accounting, accrual, private institutions, inspection-investigation, investments and

installations, inventory and movables. These modules are designed and used so that the work of provincial national education directorates that have priority is done fast, reliably and simply. When the ILSIS project is implemented, a sound, fast and up-to-date information flow shall be achieved between the central and provincial organizations.
To ensure that organization and duties of the Ministry of National Education can meet the education requirements of our day and to make the ideal of a modern, democratic Turkey come true, studies shall be continued concerning the Organization and Duties of the Ministry of National Education Law no 3797 in order to;
- organize the central organization so that it will perform its planning, programming and inspection functions,
- organize the provincial organizations so that it will perform its executive functions,
- it will make the most efficient use of human and material resources
- it will provide fast and correct solutions to problems,
- it will employ qualified personnel to take implementation decisions.
Also, in order to make sure that the in-service training received by teachers and instructors are reflected in their personnel rights and that contracted teachers and instructors are employed where necessary, the related legislation and practices of the EU countries shall be reviewed and teaching personnel shortcomings shall be solved by encouraging people to work as research assistants to become teachers and instructors, financial and legal measures shall be taken and the necessary legal arrangements shall be made. (Eighth Developmental Five-Year-Plan for the Year 2002).

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National Education At The Beginning Of 2002

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