The “Turkey Century Education Model” for compulsory courses at all education levels was presented to the public by the Ministry of National Education. The new curriculum is expected to be gradually implemented in pre-school, primary school first grade, secondary school fifth grade and high school ninth grade starting from the next academic year. In the studies, it was stated that in country-based comparisons, the current curriculum was determined to be nearly 2 times heavier than its equivalents, and a 35 percent dilution was made in the curriculum.
INTEGRAL WAS REMOVED, THE NUMBER OF REVOLUTION HISTORY UNITS WAS REDUCED FROM 8 TO 3
The 12th grade integral subject, which was included in the secondary education mathematics curriculum, was removed from the curriculum. Limit and derivative topics will be discussed comprehensively in the 12th grade mathematics program. Educators are of the opinion that the dilution in the mathematics course will make other numerical courses difficult to understand. According to the new draft of the 12th grade Turkish Republic History of Revolution and Kemalism course; The topics of the course were limited to three units. Its curriculum, published in 2018, included eight units. While the 72-hour course duration of the Revolution course did not change in the 2018 and 2024 curricula, the number of learning outcomes was reduced from 33 to 16.
REACTION FROM CHP: THEY DID NOT GIVE UP THE GOAL OF RAISING A SPIRITUAL AND RELIGIOUS GENERATION
There was a reaction from the opposition to the new curriculum change. CHP Deputy Chairman Responsible for the Ministry of National Education, Suat Özçağdaş, made a written statement regarding the new curriculum draft announced by the Ministry of National Education. Özçağdaş said, “The curriculum, in its current form, is not an education program that serves the future of Turkey, but the outdated education manifesto of the Justice and Development Party government, which has never given up on its goal of raising religious and spiteful generations even for a day.” He said in the statement:
“The new education program, which has been awaited for a long time and has various discussions on it, was presented to the public this afternoon as the ‘TURKISH CENTURY EDUCATION MODEL’ and without receiving opinions from stakeholders other than groups close to the government. The most fundamental issue that needs to be determined is this: Under the title of Turkey Century Education Model This curriculum imposed on our country may be the dream of the sects and communities that are tried to impose it under the guise of NGOs, but it cannot be accepted as the modern education program of our Head Teacher, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who said, “The Republic requires from you generations with ‘free minds, free conscience, free wisdom’.” In this form, it is not an education program that serves the future of Turkey, but the outdated education manifesto of the Justice and Development Party government, which has not given up its goal of raising religious and spiteful generations even for a day. We share the outputs with you, the valuable public.”
“What TURKEY NEEDS IS A SECULAR EDUCATION SYSTEM”
“Education is literally a matter of survival for a country with approximately 20 million students, where almost one member of every family is in the education process, and with many social, cultural, economic and environmental problems that need to be solved. Turkey’s basic need is for its children to be thinking, questioning, “It is a scientific, democratic and secular education system in which citizens are prepared for the future with confidence as citizens who criticize, research and compete with contemporary civilizations.”
“IT IS REACTIONARY”
“The content fully reflects the ideological attitudes of those who prepared the program with the ‘Virtue-value-action’ model. Educational programs cannot be biased against the values that children acquire from their family and environment. The values adopted by the programs are tested, validated, impartial and universal for the benefit of children.” “There must be values. However, the prepared program is based on ‘value indoctrination’. In this respect, it is quite authoritarian, despotic and reactionary.”
SO WHAT ARE THE MAIN CHANGES IN THE CURRICULUM?
In the new curriculum draft called ‘Turkey Century Education Model’, which was presented to the public by the Ministry of National Education (MEB), a series of changes in mathematics are foreseen. The 12th grade integral subject, which was included in the secondary education mathematics curriculum, was removed from the curriculum. Limit and derivative topics will be discussed comprehensively in the 12th grade mathematics program. While the subject of probability will be taught starting from the 4th grade of primary school, the function will start to be shown in the 8th grade. Experts state that the topics covered in mathematics will create problems in theoretically explaining and understanding the physics course. It is stated that removing the integral will affect other numerical courses.
While it was criticized that the number of units in the History of Revolution course was reduced from 8 to 3 in the 12th grade, the addition of the ‘Palestine issue’ to the subjects that were only considered as the ‘Zionism issue’ in the previous curriculum drew attention.
In the new curriculum, emphasis was placed on field skills. 5 field skills were determined in mathematics, 13 in science, and 17 in social sciences. Teaching Turkish and improving students’ language skills has become a fundamental policy in the education system.
The “holistic education approach” model, which sees the student as a whole mentally, socially, emotionally, emotionally, physically and morally, was adopted.
With system literacy, which was included in the curriculum for the first time, it was aimed for students to determine their own learning method in any subject and to be able to learn on their own. To implement this, 9 sub-literacy types were identified: information, digital, financial, visual, culture, citizenship, data, sustainability and art literacy.
In school-based planning, the 10th grade was devoted to career guidance.
CHANGES IN THE HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION AND ATATURKISM COURSE
According to the new draft of the 12th grade Turkish Republic History of Revolution and Kemalism course; The topics of the course were limited to three units. The units are respectively; ”The Birth of the Modern Turkish State, the Turkish Revolution and Kemalism, Turkey from World War II to the Globalization Process”. The curriculum of the History of Revolution course, published in 2018, included eight units. While the 72-hour course duration of the Revolution course did not change in the 2018 and 2024 curricula, the number of learning outcomes was reduced from 33 to 16.
The expressions called “Pontus issue, Armenian Question / Deportation, 1915 Events” in the 2018 curriculum of the Revolution course were changed in the new curriculum draft. According to the new curriculum draft, these concepts were replaced with the expressions “Unfounded Pontic claims – Unfounded Armenian claims”.
While the previous curriculum stated that “1961 and 1982 Constitutions are compared in terms of their structure and approach to human rights”, the new curriculum draft includes; “Students may be asked to prepare a table in which they compare the similar and different aspects of Kanun-ı Esasi and the 1921 and 1924 constitutions.”
The Palestine issue was added to the new draft. The subject, which was only addressed as “Zionism issue” in the previous curriculum, was expanded and addressed as “Palestinian Issue and the issues of transformation of colonialism”.
The new curriculum draft; Topics related to Turkey’s foreign policy, “Turkey’s maritime geopolitics and Blue Homeland, unfounded Armenian claims and ASALA terrorism, Nagorno-Karabakh Problem” have been added.
According to the new draft, students are asked to create a “Martyr Diplomats Album”, Aliya Izetbegovic¸, Rauf Denktaş¸, Dr. Researching the life and works of figures such as Sadık Ahmet, Muhammed Ali Cinnah, İsa Yusuf Alptekin, preparing and presenting his biography, preparing a report for the United Nations revealing the injustices suffered by the Turks in Cyprus, and supporting the terrorist organizations PKK/PYD, DEAS and FETO. They may be asked to “explain the damage they have caused to the Republic of Turkey.”
CHANGES IN MATHEMATICS
Some changes in the mathematics course in the simplified curriculum are as follows:
PRIMARY SCHOOL
The learning objectives of the new curriculum were structured accordingly since primary school students’ geometric thinking levels are at the visual level. In this context, taking into account the developmental process, the part-whole relationship was highlighted and it was aimed to teach students the geometry of objects with different object models.
The teaching and learning process was progressed in a more concrete structure and it was aimed to give meaning to the shapes based on the geometric objects that the students could perceive.
In the program, within the scope of the simplifications made within the framework of the content, the subjects “fractions, time, liquid measurement, standard measuring tools and operation processes, calendar reading” were removed from the first grade and started to be taught from the second grade onwards, as the students in the first grade of primary school had difficulties in the first grade.
In the 3rd grade of primary school, Roman numerals were not given as a learning target, but were reflected in teaching-learning practices regarding time measurement. The bar graph was transferred to the 5th grade, area measurement was completely removed from primary school. Ray line segment plane topics from 4th grade were transferred to 5th grade. Quick counting, shape patterns, coding and algorithm activities were added to primary school 1st grades. Algorithm added to 3rd grade primary school. Equivalent fractions and probability situations encountered in daily life were added to 4th grade primary school students.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
In the program, challenging content for students with its operational aspect was brought to secondary education, and content and approaches that would support interdisciplinary relations were prioritized.
For example, operations with radical expressions were moved to secondary education, but importance was given to making sense of the set of real numbers in the context of radical expressions in secondary school. The concept of function, which has great importance in high school, started to be included in the 8th grade as a continuation of the concepts of line and linear ratio.
Due to the increasing importance of data science and the ability to work with data in real life, science and technology, more emphasis has been placed on statistics and probability.
In line with the needs of the digital age, the subject of algorithms related to mathematical content was added to the program in order to develop students’ algorithmic thinking skills.
LİSE
Contents that had a high computational burden for students, did not serve meaningful learning, and were not needed at the secondary education level in line with the general objectives of the program were reviewed, some were removed and new ones were added. In this context, the relationship between mathematics and algorithm-informatics was designed for the first time in this program to serve the processes of learning and teaching mathematics.
Statistics topics were reconsidered in the context of “the ability to work with data and make data-based decisions” and their place in the program was significantly increased.
Topics related to numbers, algebra and functions have been redesigned with functions at the center. In an interdisciplinary context, the dimensions of functions to examine changes and serve as problem-solving tools were prioritized.
Sets and logic topics, which were handled in an abstract, symbolic and transaction-oriented way, were restructured by integrating them into other topics.
The use of tools and technology in geometry was highlighted, and a dynamic geometry teaching based on reasoning and problem solving was aimed.
The concept of integral, which is presented in a very limited and transaction-oriented manner and is no more than a calculation tool in its current form, was not included, and the subjects of limits and derivatives, as the basic tools of the mathematics of change, were discussed more comprehensively. Comments and inferences about derivatives were included with a problem-solving focused approach.
The place of the concept of integral in the programs was significantly narrowed by ongoing revision studies, and it was seen that no meaningful learning was achieved in its current form and the concept of integral was not used in other secondary education courses. In high school, the concept of integral, which was currently presented in a very limited and operation-oriented way, was not included, and the concepts of limit and derivative were discussed more comprehensively.
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