Title: The reforming of vocational teacher training colleges in Turkey

Authors: Abdullah Cavusoglu, Durmus Gunay

Addresses: Faculty of Engineering, Karabuk University, Karabuk, Turkey. ' The Council of Higher Education, Yuksekogretim Kurulu, YOK Bilkent Ankara, Turkey

Abstract: In Turkey, for many decades college level technical education has been in the form of two main tracks: namely the |Faculty of Engineering| and the |Faculty of Technical Education|. The Faculties of Engineering are very similar to engineering schools and colleges around the world; they train engineering students. The |Faculties of Technical Education| are similar to the |Schools of Applied Sciences| that many European countries have. The graduates of these schools are either employed at high schools as teachers at technical or vocational high schools, self-employed or employed at other governmental organisations as technical staff. Due to the employability problems that the graduates of these schools have faced in recent years and the suggestions made by The Council of the Higher Education of Turkey (CoHE), Turkish parliament has recently took a decision to close down these colleges and open new colleges called |Faculty of Technology| in November of 2009. According to the CoHE, these new faculties will train engineering students. The graduates of these faculties can also become teachers at the technical or vocational high schools if they get teaching certificate. This paper discusses the content, outlook, and prospects of this recent reform.

Keywords: vocational training; teacher training; educational reforms; applied engineering; higher education; universities; Turkey; training colleges; technical education; faculties; engineering schools; applied sciences; graduates; high schools; teachers; self-employment; governmental organisations; technical staff; employability; Turkish parliament; teaching certificates; technology enhanced learning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTEL.2011.040229

International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning, 2011 Vol.3 No.3, pp.332 - 341

Published online: 26 Feb 2015 *

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