Turkey

Overview

In Turkey, adult education services are provided mainly by the Ministry of National Education, other related Ministries such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Women and Family, Ministry of Industry and Trade and formal and semi-formal institutions, local administrations, universities, civil societies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Besides being responsible for the provision of adult education programs, the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) also coordinates the cooperation between institutions at national and local level and inspects the running of their programs. The Ministry of Education provides adult education services through the General Directorate of Apprenticeship and Non-formal Education which is the main governmental unit for adult education. [1]

Recently Turkey has seen a rise in educational programmes in this field due to the European Union harmonisation programme, under the ‘Lifelong Education Concept´. This aims to improve the underlying system of providing adult education, as well as work towards a more efficient technical and economic infrastructure. The direction of these programmes is focussed primarily on good citizenship and personal development, although there is also great emphasis on employability and skills development for industry. [2]

Politics and Law

The system of Adult Education in Turkey is largely under the control of the Ministry of National Education, even non governmental organisation (NGOs) who wish to organise life long learning programmes are required to obtain permission from the ministry rather than local administration. This can often mean that such programmes are avoided in favour of short term or individual seminars which do not fall under this jurisdiction. [3]

By the Primary Education Law and Education Law number 222 in 1961, each citizen who has passed the age of primary education or who was not able to continue his/her education for any reason was given the right to get education in the remedial classrooms in order to increase the general knowledge and to get better job and further education opportunities. [4]

The education system in Turkey is governed mainly by the National Education Basic Act which came into effect in June 1973. According to this Act, the Turkish national education system is composed of two basic components: formal education (örgün eg˘itim) and non-formal education (yaygın eg˘itim) (Article 18). Non-formal education is defined as the training and education of those who did not enrol in formal-education for whatever reason, or continuous education of those who had taken some level of formal education. The Act requires formal and non-formal education activities to be organised in close collaboration and coordination, utilising each other´s available resources as much as possible. In the legal foundation of the Turkish education system, adult education and other continuing education activities lie in the scope of non-formal education.

Future trends/key concerns/directions

The candidacy process of Turkey to the EU required harmonisation of Turkey´s legislation with the EU´s in some fields, including education. In order to achieve that, Turkey's Programme for Alignment with the Acquis Communautaire (2007-2013) was developed between parties in 2007. The chapter called Education and Culture in this program requires the preparation of a ‘Strategy Document for Lifelong Learning´ by the year 2007. By 2013, the programme expects legislation about lifelong learning in Turkey to comply with the Lisbon Strategy of the EU. [5]

Another hot issue concerning the future of adult education in Turkey is the need for professionalism in public education centres. Several recommendations have been suggested in order to increase the quality of the public education centres including: pre and in-service training for both administrative and teaching staff to increase skills, working to improve the image of education centres to attract a wider part of society and making legal adjustments to enable centres to effectively promote their services. [6]

In addition, there is MEGEP´s Policy Paper and Strategy Document for Lifelong Learning (LLL) in Turkey. MEGEP (or English SVET - Strengthening the Vocational Education and Training System in Turkey) is an EU funded project within MoNE that aims to improve vocational training and education system of Turkey. As an expected project output, the project developed the first Lifelong Learning Policy Paper in 2006. The policy paper recommends change in seven key areas:

1. System, Infrastructure and Funding of Lifelong Learning

2. The Collection and Use of Data for Monitoring and Decision-Making

3. Decentralisation and Devolution, Civil Society and Collaboration

4. Information, Advice and Guidance to Learners, and a Culture of Learning

5. The Development of Staff Capacity

6. International Co-operation

7. Quality Assurance and Accreditation [7]

References

Written in cooperation with Ms A. Ozyol from our EAEA member in Turkey, HYDRA (http://www.hydra.com.tr)

1. National Report on Adult Learning and Education (ALE) in Turkey Unesco/Confintea, pag 6

2. Ms A Ozyol, Hydra, http://www.hydra.com.tr personal communication, 2010

3. Ms A Ozyol, Hydra, http://www.hydra.com.tr personal communication, 2010

4. National Report on Adult Learning and Education (ALE) in Turkey Unesco/Confintea pag 1

5. DVV International, 2009. European Adult Education outside the EU, http://www.eaea.org/doc/pub/ALE_outside_Europe09.pdf, accessed 08.04.10

6. National Report on Adult Learning and Education (ALE) in Turkey Unesco/Confintea pag 11

7. DVV International, 2009. European Adult Education outside the EU, http://www.eaea.org/doc/pub/ALE_outside_Europe09.pdf, accessed 08.04.10