What matters for rural teachers and communities? Educational challenges in rural Turkey

This research aims to unearth the educational challenges experienced by teachers and communities in rural Turkey. The research employs Nancy Fraser’s three dimensional justice approach – distribution, recognition and participation – to frame these challenges and to argue that rural challenges go beyond economic rationalities and concerns of infrastructure and resources. The study draws its data from 29 in-depth interviews with 20 teachers working in 16 different villages; 9 interviews with community members; and 2 focus group interviews, 1 with rural dwelling women and the other with rural dwelling men. The findings point out four significant difficulties that impede community and educational development: scarcity of resources; insufficient understanding of social, cultural and economic contexts that constrain educational attempts; lack of collaboration between teacher and communities; and irrelevant education. The study concludes by scrutinising how these difficulties interact with one another and result in marginalisation or casting out of rural lives.     

A Thirteenth-Century Scholar in the Eastern Mediterranean: Sirāj al-Dīn Urmavī, Jurist,Logician, Diplomat

This essay examines the career of the Shafi?ī jurist and logician Sirāj al-Dīn Urmavī (1198–1283), who combined his scholarly and judicial activities with ambassadorial appointments to Frederick II, King of Sicily and Holy Roman Emperor, and the Ilkhan Hülegü. Originally from Azerbaijan, Sirāj al-Dīn spent most of his professional life in Ayyūbid Cairo and, from 1257, in Seljuk Konya, where he spent the final decades of his life as chief qadi. Through a contextualised reading of the extant biographical information for Sirāj al-Dīn, the article draws particular attention to two aspects of his physical and professional trajectory. First, the essay situates Sirāj al-Dīn's career in the context of processes of cultural change in thirteenth-century Anatolia. It seeks to demonstrate both the transfer and adaptation to the Anatolian urban milieu of social–cultural patterns attested for the a?yān in neighbouring predominantly Muslim societies, and the shaping of the social and cultural functions of immigrant scholars to Anatolia by local conditions. Second, the article identifies Sirāj al-Dīn as a prominent participant in an intellectual community engaged in inter-cultural exchange across political and confessional boundaries in the thirteenth-century eastern Mediterranean.     

Career Choices, Job Selection Criteria, and Leadership Preferences in a Transitional Nation: The Case of Turkey

This study explored the factors that influenced Turkish university students' career choices, job selection criteria, and leadership preferences. Participated in this study were 1,213 senior and junior management students from 17 universities across 6 regions of Turkey. Data collection was accomplished through a self-administered four-part questionnaire. Findings revealed that for the entire sample, having power and authority, peaceful work environment, opportunity for career advancement, and pay were the most motivating factors in job selection, whereas close supervision and guidance, praise from supervisor, feedback on performance, and sense of belonging were the least motivating ones. Charismatic leadership was found to be the most preferred style followed by participative, paternalistic, and bureaucratic styles. Finally, career choices were mostly affected by intrinsic factors (i.e., self aspirations), whereas interpersonal factors (i.e., significant others' expectations) were least influential. Findings were discussed in light of dynamic and changing cultural characteristics of the Turkish society.     

Policy into practice on sustainable development related teaching in higher education in Turkey

This research explores the current status of implementing policy in sustainable development related teaching in higher education in Turkey. Turkish higher education policy has included increased commitment to sustainable development in recent years. However, there has not been much research conducted on its implementation. Hence, this study involves assessing the current status of sustainable development in teaching at higher education institutions (HEIs) in Turkey. Regarding the research design, a systematic review of accumulated sustainable development related teaching in all 193 HEIs in Turkey (as of the 2015–2016 academic year) was carried out. The accumulated programmes are categorised by occupation concerning sustainable development for the future of Turkey, and the courses are presented within those categories. Whilst many programmes and courses related to sustainable development were identified, the data also reveals the following features: the repetition of same courses; disciplinary partiality, particularly on environmental engineering; disciplinary conservatism and the lack of interdisciplinary practice in general; and last but not least, the differences between what sustainable development means in the European higher education political initiative and what the state of practice is in Turkish higher education.     

A Turkish profile of prospective elementary school teachers and their views of teaching

This study explores the characteristics and perceptions of those currently entering elementary teacher education in Turkey. A questionnaire consisting of fixed-response, Likert-style and open-ended questions was administered to all entry level elementary teacher education students (n=381) enrolled in the Faculty of Education of Selcuk University during the 2001–2002 academic year to seek information about their background characteristics, past and preferred elementary schooling experiences, reasons for choosing elementary teaching as a career, and perceptions of elementary teaching as a profession. Results indicate that significant differences exist between male and female prospective elementary teachers’ preconceptions of the teaching profession. Implications for preservice teacher education and further research are discussed.     

欧盟与土耳其关系发展的障碍

作为一个横跨欧亚大陆的伊斯兰教国家,土耳其多年来一直积极申请加入欧洲联盟,但却屡屡碰壁。加入欧盟是土耳其长期的和主要的对外战略目标,接纳土耳其入盟也符合欧盟的长远战略利益。为什么土耳其的入盟之路会如此坎坷,什么又是影响土耳其与欧盟关系的障碍呢?通过深入分析,着重论述了二者由于宗教信仰不同而形成的文明冲突。     

Cross-national encounters: Turkish students in the United States

This research studied the effects of sojourn experience on the attitudes of young Turkish students spending a year in the U.S. The study, using a pretest-posttest control group design, was repeated for two years and was completed by a follow-up. Certain attitude changes were obtained which were attributed to the favorable nature of sojourn experience. These changes were mainly decreases in authoritarianism and religiosity and increases in world-mindedness and to a lesser degree in belief in internal control and perceived family control. Most of these changes were found to be of duration longer than one year. Patriotism and achievement values decreased independently of sojourn experience, indicating an age trend. After returning home subjects were found to undergo a readjustment process arriving at an optimum level in about a year.     

Ethnographic account of a pedagogical project: sisterhood institution in the Hizmet Movement

This article focuses on the pedagogical project of the Hizmet Movement, with a special focus on its gender politics as they were activated and performed at one of the movement’s schools in a peripheral rural city in western Turkey. Through an ethnographic, conversation-based account of female teachers as active and committed adherents of the Movement, this article traces a two-tier approach to the community’s pedagogical project: the first is the examination of micro-institutional mobilization units of the Movement, while the second tier is an analysis of key themes in the discourses surrounding gender, characterizing the role and the extent of women’s participation in the movement. Drawing on the central gender discourses of the movement, this article reveals the emerging pedagogical model developed by the Movement as the constitution of a new hegemonic form, which I call the ‘conservative sisterhood.’     

The expansion of compulsory education in Turkey: local and world culture dynamics

Drawing on world culture and local culture explanations of educational change, this article aims to understand the dynamics of educational reform in Turkey in 1997 that expanded compulsory primary education from five to eight years. To do so, speeches given by opponents and proponents of the reform in the Turkish parliament were analysed. Imam-Hatip schools, vocational secondary schools for educating religious functionaries, were central to the debate. In support of world culture explanations, both sides of the debate made references to Western educational models and universal values such as democracy and human rights to frame and legitimise their arguments. However, all these arguments were embedded in local cultural and political issues. This article therefore proposes that both world culture and local culture should be considered when analysing national policy changes since local actors can easily appropriate global developments to support their local cultural and political interests.     

Multigrade schooling in Turkey: An overview

This paper reviews multigrade schooling in Turkey, with an emphasis on its status in the education system, as well as the curriculum practices, teacher training and problems associated with it. It is viewed by the State as an “inevitable” practice that arises through limited number of pupils and classrooms in small and scattered settlement areas where population density is low and is perceived as a system that needs to be abolished. The review concludes, by contrast, that multigrade schooling is advantageous for Turkey as it provides access to at least 5 years of education for thousands of children.