Curriculum, Subjects, Number of Hours
All teaching programs including curriculum in all levels of education in Turkey are centrally prepared by relevant units of the Ministry of National Education and approved by the Board of Education and are made available to students for their use. The teachers decide on the teaching methods and educational materials, methods for examinations, homework and projects and evaluation for education. For the courses with sufficient number of teachers to form branches, the branch teachers can adopt collective resolutions. In principle, the textbooks and educational materials to be used in institutions are determined by the Ministry (Basic Law of National Education/Milli Eğitim Temel Kanunu, Article 55). The textbooks for primary education are decided by the Ministry and delivered to all students free of charge. Topics related to characteristics, preparation, review and evaluation of the textbooks and educational materials are regulated with Regulation on Textbooks and Educational Materials (Ders Kitapları ve Eğitim Araçları Yönetmeliği).
In the vast majority of schools, it is possible to make use of communication and information technology for teachers and students. Common and elective courses determined by the Ministry are available according to school types at secondary education level. Common courses to be used in the 9th and 10th grades are as follows: Language skills, Turkish Literature, Religion and Ethics, History, Geography, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Health Information, the First Foreign Language, Physical Education, Visual Arts / Music. Electives include Speech and Language, Mathematics and Science, Social Studies, Religion and Values Ethics, Foreign Languages and Literature, Sports and Social Events, Arts & IT. Common and elective courses (a total of 22 courses in 8 groups) from grade 11 vary in the general secondary education. All secondary schools offer the first foreign language in common courses. In addition, students in line with the interests and desires, which are defined as social activities outside the classroom student clubs and community service with all kinds of study trips, competitions, publications, performances, theatre, and sports, make debates and other similar activities.
Teaching Methods and Materials
Every teacher is responsible for making necessary preliminary studies based on the curriculum related with their course. In principle, every teacher in secondary education institutions drafts an annual plan for the rendered courses at the beginning of academic year, which is ratified by the principle. The daily plans are conducted according to the annual plan. Each program for every course is like a teacher’s map. Teachers are allowed to employ visual tools such as video, slide, tape-radio, overhead projector, television etc. However, this equipment does not exist in all schools. Most of the schools must be fitted with internet and information technology tools for the use of teachers and pupils. The general objectives of the program courses include units, located on the achievements and topics of each unit. The program also includes examples of activities with the description and examples of process arrangement and evaluation. The course book is a guide for teachers. These programs have to be drafted on the basis. Textbooks approved by the Ministry of Education at all levels of education (public/private schools) are distributed free to students. For this purpose, the studies on establishment of information technology classrooms are intensified within recent years.
Students’ seminars for community service projects and activities with performance work outside the written exam are conducted according to the characteristics of schools, conferences and similar studies. Students from all courses each semester fulfil at least one performance work with the task of preparing the project from at least one course in each course.
In addition, in recent years, investments have focused on improving the information technology infrastructure.
As of July 2021, within the scope of FATIH Project, 1,084,978 data points and network infrastructure have been provided in 16,548 schools. 13.800 of the schools whose network infrastructure and interactive board have been completed have been included in the VPN network created specifically for the FATIH Project, and 13.212 of them are actively used. A total of 474,991 interactive whiteboards have been installed in the classrooms. In order to enable our teachers to offer distance education in classrooms with interactive boards, 105,000 webcams were distributed to our schools. Also, the following studies were carried out in the distance education process that emerged during the epidemic period:
From March 23, 2020, when distance education started, to June 18, 2021, EBA was visited 23,769,308,322 times. In the 2020 - 2021 academic year, between September 21, 2020 - June 18, 2021, a total of 12,182 hours of broadcasts were broadcast on EBA TV Primary School, EBA TV Secondary School and EBA TV High School channels, and these broadcasts were shot in 13 different studios in Ankara and Istanbul. The total broadcast time between March 23, 2020 - June 18, 2021 was 18,377. During the distance education period, a total of 11,523 lesson videos and 1,049 extracurricular activity videos were prepared. 7,197 of the lecture videos and 828 of the extracurricular activity videos were prepared for the 2020 - 2021 academic year. On the other hand, the EBA Mobile application has reached 31 million downloads for Android devices and 3.1 million downloads for iOS devices. Between September 21, 2020 - June 18, 2021, 12,873,739 students and 1,005,980 teachers actively used EBA, and 836,384 students and 177,344 teachers actively used EBA Academic Support. In addition, a total of 287,183,328 Live Lessons were held until 19 June in the 2020-2021 academic year at pre-school, primary, secondary and high school levels. For students who need internet access and device support during the distance education process, 15,352 EBA Support Points have been established, and 189 mobile EBA Support Points have been established. In addition, 664,157 tablet computers with 25 GB capacity GSM internet service and webcams for 105,000 classrooms were distributed. During the epidemic period, with the transition to a new hybrid learning model with distance and blended education as of 16 March 2020, the number of teachers benefiting from webinars and MOOC-based trainings conducted within the scope of eTwinning, FCL and Scientix Projects has reached approximately 850,000. Teachers had the opportunity to attend more than one training according to their interests and curiosity.
In the distance education process, studies have also been carried out for students who need special education. In this context, on April 27, 2020, a cooperation was initiated between our Ministry and the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services to ensure that hearing impaired students access TRT EBA TV classes. Life skills videos were prepared, including sign language content, audio videos for visually impaired students, personal care, social life and social skills for students with intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorders. In addition, some videos on the pedagogical and psycho-social approach to children during social isolation have been developed for families. YEĞİTEK has made agreements with GSM operators to remove the internet access barrier and provided 6-8 GB of free weekly access to be used in EBA. In addition, during the COVID-19 epidemic process, where education is carried out remotely, EBA Support Points were created in accordance with the standards determined in schools/institutions in order to provide access to EBA for students who do not have computer and internet access at home, and mobile EBA Support Tools were created for our students who could not reach this location. At these points, our teachers support their students' learning thanks to the digital content they provide.