With Data from PISA, a “European Union and Education in Turkey” Conference Was Held

‘With Data from PISA, a European Union and Education in Turkey’ Conference was held by Bahçeşehir University’s EU Information Centre and the European Union Delegation of Turkey. In attendance was Andreas Schleicher, Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) Education Department Vice Director and Secretary-General Education Policy Special Advisor.

The opening speech of the conference was made by Bahcesehir University Chairman of Board of Trustees, Enver Yucel, who noted that the only way Turkey can reach its 2023 targets is to have high quality in education. He added, “The solution of the problem in Turkey's existing human capital, cultural level and the technological infrastructure is us - educationists. Money is not the only criteria for education. In the U.S., the education budget is quite high but K-12’s are below the average. Therefore, qualitative education is important. Turkey, for many years, is questioning the existence of exams, but as all over the world, we see that it is not possible to not have quantification and evaluation exams. As BAU, we are trying to keep the topic education on our country’s agenda.”

Andreas Schleicher, in his presentation entitled, “What does PISA say about school managers and teachers?” addressed the issues in Turkish education. He emphasized that the economic status of a country is one of the vital factors for education, but still only financial sources are not enough for a high quality education. Schleicher also stressed that the efficient and accurate usage of resources is highly crucial since even though Singapore and Turkey seem to spend the same amount of money on education, Singapore is ranked as one of the best in the world in terms of education but Turkey ranks well behind Singapore.

Furthermore, Turkish students are not confident enough compared to other countries because Turkish teachers are not efficient enough to give this confidence to their students. Also, the care which parents give to children is very important. Therefore, school atmosphere and family relationships are highly important, as well.

At the conference, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Selçuk Şirin stated that pre-school education, the relationship between students and their schools, and independent schools are important criterion for success in education while sharing his “Where is Turkey in terms of education in Europe?” report.

After the presentations, a debate about “Class and School Organization models in the European Union” was held with the attendance of Prof. Dr. Eser Karakaş, who led the debate, and Ali Koç, Kayhan Karlı, Assistant Prof. Dr. Sinem Vatanartıran and Prof. Dr. Yaşar Özden.