Teacher Policies and Curriculum Development Initiatives After The 2000s in Turkey

Abstract

Turkish Educational System has experienced several change initiatives after the 2000s which could be much more than the previous years dated back to the founding of the republic in 1923. Teacher training and program development are the fields that have changed concerning more than a million teachers. When investigated more closely, what has happened in teacher training, quantitative changes and steps were dominated to the educational system that has not led to school success and teacher motivation. There have been too many change initiatives which were lasted at least two years and a new step has emerged when a new minister was appointed for the sake of appearance. It is also the case for program development initiatives that several changes have been made since the basic reforms in 2005 of a paradigm shift from behaviorism to constructivism. Nearly every two years programs have undergone a change that has not much lasted. Central policies and bureaucratic structure are the basic reasons that are far from social sensitivity and teacher policies and changes have been initiated mostly for the sake of appearance quantitively instead of concerning with teachers’ and society’s sensitivity, needs, and expectations qualitatively