1. TEACHER TRAINING
As part of the National Education Development Project (MEGP), the teacher training process in the education faculties has been reorganized with the cooperation of the Ministry of Education and the Higher Education Institution.

1.1. REORGANIZATION OF TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAMS IN THE EDUCATION FACULTIES
Considering the teacher requirements in relation to the eight-year of primary education implemented by the Law no 4306, teacher training programs have been reorganized with the cooperation of the Ministry of Education and the Higher Education Institution in order to meet the short- and long-term teacher requirements of the primary and secondary education institutions. The new system that has been implemented since 1998-1999 academic year is based on the principles of;

1. Training Pre-primary and primary school teachers with bachelor's degrees,
2. Training secondary school teachers;
- with bachelor's degrees of four years for Foreign Language, Music, Art, Physical Education, Special education, Computer Teaching Technologies subjects
- with non-dissertation graduate degrees (3.5+1.5=5 years or 4+1.5=5.5 years) for Science, Mathematics and Social subjects.

Also, in order to employ one teacher in several areas, the practice of a compulsory second subject has been introduced in the teacher training programs for primary education schools.

1.2. CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS
The implementation of teacher certification programs has begun as of the academic year 1997-1998 as;
_ Certification Program for Pre-primary Teachers (29 credits/hour)
_ Certification Program for Primary School (Class) Teachers (33 credits/hour)
_ Certification Program for English Teachers (31 credits/hour)
and in the academic year 1998-1999 certification programs have started in 34 education faculties. As a result of the evaluations made in May 2000; yhe certification program for Pre-primary teachers has been terminated as of 01.06.2000 and the scope of the 25-credit certification program for Pre-primary teachers has been narrowed down to 16 departments of the education faculties. Certification program for English teachers has been maintained. Also, because of the urgent teacher requirements, certification programs have been opened for teaching Mathematics, Turkish Language and Literature designed for the Literature and Mathematics departments graduates of the faculties of Arts and Science and for the senior students in the same areas in the academic year 2000-2001.

1.3. ACCREDITATION
As part of accreditation which means the quality assurance system needed for having every child trained by a qualified teacher, a taskforce has been established consisting of the representatives of

the Ministry of National Education and the teacher training higher education institutions. This taskforce has completed its work in the selected pilot education faculties of METU, Anadolu, Çukurova, Gazi, Dokuz Eylül and Karadeniz Technical Universities.

1.4. THE TURKISH NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF TEACHER TRAINING
The Ministry of National Education now has 5 members in the "Turkish National Committee of Teacher Training" which audits, evaluates and develops programs implemented in the teacher training higher education institutions and acts as an advisory council of the Higher Education Institution in making decisions related to teacher training activities.

1.5. TEACHER QUALIFICATION INDICATORS
The commission consisting of the related units of the Ministry of National Education and the university representatives has completed its work on the identification of teacher qualification indicators. Teacher qualification indicators are used in providing the following services:

· defining teacher training policies

· pre-employment teacher training

· selecting teachers

· auditing teachers and evaluating their performance

· teachers' self-improvement

· in-service teacher training

1.6. TEACHER REQUIREMENTS

*Indicates the targets defined in the eighth developmental plan for five years

Teacher requirements have been defined after calculation of the number of students per teacher has been calculated for each city and each region.

Thus, the following facts are taken as a basis;
- 1 teacher per 20 students in Pre-primary education
- 1 teacher per 30 students in primary education
- increase in the enrolment rate in general secondary education (91x54 teachers)
- increase in the enrolment rate in vocational and technical education (427x68 teachers)

RESOURCE: The Ministry of National Education General Directorate of Personnel
NOT: Figures temporary data are as of 07.11.2001.

2. REGULATIONS FOR TEACHERS
2.1. NORM STAFFING
The Ministry of National Education has started the practice of norm staffing in teacher employment in order to ensure a fair and balanced distribution of teachers all over the country. The principles of this implementation are based on the following:
- Required and adequate numbers of personnel shall be provided to give administrative, education and teaching services in the schools and institutions,
- No redundant personnel shall be employed and the existing redundancy shall be directed to schools and institutions with needs to enhance efficiency,
- The acquired modern technology shall be utilised in all processes of the education management in the most effective and efficient manner,
- The total number of lessons each teacher is supposed to undertake per week shall be kept within legal limits,
- Depending on the type and level of schools and institutions, the number of students in each class, branch or group shall be kept within the internationally accepted norm limits.

2.1.1. WHY NORM STAFFING?
Teacher training and employment is an important part of the education system. As it says in the Constitution of the Turkish Republic, "No one can be deprived of the right to receive education and training".
As stipulated by the provisions of the National Basic Education Law no. 1739 "Equality of educational opportunity must be provided for everyone, men or women", it is an unavoidable obligation to ensure a fair and balanced distribution of educational opportunities all over the country.

Therefore, as required by the Seventh Developmental Plan for Five Years, article 62 of the Law no. 3797 on the Organisation and Duties of the Ministry of National Education has been amended by the Law no. 4359 dated 03.04.1998 to suggest that the free staff allocated to the Ministry of National Education be distributed according to standards to be defined in the regulations prepared collectively by the Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Finance and the State Directorate of Personnel. Norm Staffing Regulations have been prepared parallel to that provision.

2.1.2. Norm Staffing Implementations
In line with the regulations, norm staffing of each education institution including the number of directors and branch teachers is identified and delivered to the cities upon approval by the Ministry of National Education. Identification of norm staffing is based on number of students, number of lessons per week and number of classrooms. Once identified in such a manner, the norm staffing is matched with the administrators and teachers working in the schools. Teachers who are redundant according to the norm staffing are assigned to coordinating schools and institutions in areas with more than one education region, and the redundant teachers in schools located in areas with one education region or in villages and towns are permitted to work in the schools where they have already been employed.

2.1.3. Redundant Teachers in Central Schools before the Norm Staffing Practice and Teacher Savings Ensured by such Practice
In every education institution, the increasing number of students, and consequently, of lessons per week and the positive development in the number of schools and classrooms shall lead to an increasing number of norm staff. Therefore, no education institution shall be allocated

more staff than the current number of teachers. So, since it will not be possible to employ more teachers than required, artificial increase of the number of teachers shall be avoided.

As of 1999, the number of teachers in the Ministry of National Education staff is 455.000. 102.000 of them were educational administrators, meaning school directors and adjunct-directors, but with the practice of norm staffing, this number has been reduced to 55.000. In 1999, before the application of norm staffing, the number of redundant teachers was 59.000 and the number required was 108.000. This excess number of 59.000 equals the number of teachers in about 3.687 primary education schools with 8 classrooms. Total number of rural primary education schools (outside the town and city centres) is 19.789. 59.000 redundant teachers meet 18.6% of the teacher requirements of rural primary education schools.

At the beginning of the application, the budget output of 59.000 redundant teachers was about 17 trillion 700 billion per month and 212 trillion 400 billion per annum, based on a salary of about 300 million. This figure goes beyond 300 trillion when we consider the fees per lesson paid to other teachers working in the schools where, in fact, the mentioned redundant teachers should be employed. Calculated against today's values, this figure is about 450 trillion.
The 2001 fiscal year budget of the Ministry of National Education is 4 quadrillion 46 trillion 305 billion. Personnel expenditures are 3 quadrillion 171 trillion 460 billion. This means that personnel expenditures account for 78.3% of the budget. The amount of 450 trillion mentioned above for the redundant teachers is 14% of the personnel expenditures and 11% of the budget of the Ministry of National Education.

Turkish Version

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