Education Monitoring Report 2011

Turkey still lacks a comprehensive education strategy.

The need for a medium term plan to develop and implement education policies persisted in 2011. Following his appointment as the Minister of National Education in 2011, Mr. Ömer Dinçer’s strategy meetings on teacher policies and vocational and technical education were valuable efforts that could respond to the need for a holistic strategy. However, Turkey’s education policies continue to suffer from the absence of a thorough study which designs and monitors policies and strategies among different components of education with wide participation.

Neither the high-level policy documents nor the ruling party’s election manifesto included a legislative proposal on the “4+4+4” compulsory education system. Moreover, the legislative proposal drafting process was neither participatory nor data-based. Effective shortly after its first appearance on the public agenda, the Primary Education and Education Law no. 6287 brought about changes in the school starting age and primary schools, introduced new programs and elective courses at the lower secondary level and made upper secondary education compulsory. While fundamentally altering the educational system, it also caused uncertainty. This unplanned alteration not only jeopardizes progress made in the education sector but also creates significant challenges in the areas of governance and financing for Ministry of National Education.

         Download PDF