Private Courses in Education or Education in Private Courses?

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Year-Number: 2015-Volume 7, Issue 1
Yayımlanma Tarihi: null
Language : null
Konu : null

Abstract

The present research discusses the views of a group of teachers on the place of private university prep schools (hereinafter university prep schools) in Turkish education system. Participant teachers (n=58) have been doing their MAs through distance education at the Graduate School of Social Sciences, Amasya University. The research was carried out in the Fall Semester of the 2013-2014 Academic Year. Participants were asked to answer open-ended questions in writing. The study was based on content analysis. The findings yielded four domains: “raisons d’être of university prep schools”, “the need for university prep schools”, “suggestions for solving the problem in question”, and “problems caused by university prep schools”. Percentages of the codes (52) having appeared under the domains are presented and the views of teachers are cited as substantiated with excerpts from the participants’ answers. Majority of the participant teachers (98%) consider that university prep schools are a must in the current condition of Turkish education system. This view has been supported by the claim that Turkish assessment system for high school and undergraduate placement is competition- and achievement-based. Percentages of the other views standing out as “the best suggestions” are as follows: families’ belief that attending university prep schools is a sine qua non to enter a university and the relief of fulfilling their responsibility for enrolling their children for a university prep school (10%); belief that university prep schools create equality of educational opportunity for low income families (8%); teachers’ concern about mushrooming of illegal private tutoring due to university prep schools closedown (38%) and their views that university prep schools should not be closed down because they help lower unemployment by hiring teachers (24%); exemption of teachers from interinstitutional transfer exam (27%) and operationalization of orientation services in education. In addition, teachers also point to some adverse effects of university prep schools on students’ social and psychological development (32%) and some parents’ diminished trust in formal education (22%).

Keywords

Abstract

The present research discusses the views of a group of teachers on the place of private university prep schools (hereinafter university prep schools) in Turkish education system. Participant teachers (n=58) have been doing their MAs through distance education at the Graduate School of Social Sciences, Amasya University. The research was carried out in the Fall Semester of the 2013-2014 Academic Year. Participants were asked to answer open-ended questions in writing. The study was based on content analysis. The findings yielded four domains: “raisons d’être of university prep schools”, “the need for university prep schools”, “suggestions for solving the problem in question”, and “problems caused by university prep schools”. Percentages of the codes (52) having appeared under the domains are presented and the views of teachers are cited as substantiated with excerpts from the participants’ answers. Majority of the participant teachers (98%) consider that university prep schools are a must in the current condition of Turkish education system. This view has been supported by the claim that Turkish assessment system for high school and undergraduate placement is competition- and achievement-based. Percentages of the other views standing out as “the best suggestions” are as follows: families’ belief that attending university prep schools is a sine qua non to enter a university and the relief of fulfilling their responsibility for enrolling their children for a university prep school (10%); belief that university prep schools create equality of educational opportunity for low income families (8%); teachers’ concern about mushrooming of illegal private tutoring due to university prep schools closedown (38%) and their views that university prep schools should not be closed down because they help lower unemployment by hiring teachers (24%); exemption of teachers from interinstitutional transfer exam (27%) and operationalization of orientation services in education. In addition, teachers also point to some adverse effects of university prep schools on students’ social and psychological development (32%) and some parents’ diminished trust in formal education (22%).

Keywords