The reform of pre-service teacher education in Turkey

Abstract

Observers of world educational systems would quickly acknowledge that the last decade has been, in many respects, one marked by reform and restructuring. Such major political figures as Bill Clinton and Tony BIair have declared education as the most pressing priority on their national agenda. Among the many issues and challenges that several governments have identified in the field of education, the training of tomorrow's teachers features highly, connecting as it does with so many concerns and aspirations of both policy-makers and clients. Nations are aware that the quality of education that can be offered to future generations very much depends on the quality of the teachers that are being formed to facilitate learning in a world characterized by change. In this chapter we will attempt to draw a picture of a recent initial teacher training reform in Turkey, taking care to locate the changes within their socio-political context, as well as to highlight the issues, expectations and aspirations that marked the reform process. In doing so, we felt that it was important to locate initial teacher education initiatives in Turkey within the context of world-wide trends in the field, in order to identify common trends and patterns, and to be in a better position to understand how reform ideas and policies 'travel' across national boundaries.