CoHE and MoNE Sign Agreement to Promote Professional Development of
Teachers
March 5, 2020 / Ankara
Prof. Ziya Selçuk, Minister of National Education, and Prof. M. A. Yekta
Saraç, President of the Council of Higher Education, signed the
"Cooperation Protocol in Education" at a ceremony held at CoHE.
"As MoNE, we care about the simultaneous conversion of all system
components. It is clear that changes that were made only in curriculum,
legislation, and infrastructure will not contribute to holistic
transformation. Therefore, we strive to tackle all components during the
measurement, evaluation, teaching and learning processes and teacher
education. To comply with this need, we have realized that we needed a new
perspective, considering the needs in the world. There are several things
to be done. It is quite crucial to redesign teacher education starting from
faculties to meet the current needs,” said Minister Selçuk.
He pointed out the new in-service training and infrastructure opportunities
and said that they were focused on providing teachers with sustainable
educational content according to the needs of schools.
He emphasized that this could not be achieved only with the changes to be
made by MoNE and thanked CoHE President Saraç and the members of CoHE for
their contributions. He stated that it is quite important that this work
will be carried out by MoNE and CoHE.
- Professional development of candidate teachers to be supported
CoHE President Prof. Yekta Saraç stated that they had signed cooperation
protocols with many ministries in recent years and that the results had
started to be felt both in academia and society.
He reiterated the cooperation protocol signed between MoNE and CoHE in 2018
and said that the scope of cooperation would be expanded with the new
protocol.
- "Issue of Master’s Degree with or without Thesis will be on the
agenda"
"Graduate or distance education programs may also be opened to increase the
quality of teacher education. CoHE will also encourage academic and
research counseling for students in educational institutions affiliated to
the Ministry of National Education by faculty members at universities. As a
result, the issue of master's degree with or without thesis will be on the
agenda, and we will work on it,” he said.
Saraç reiterated that substantial general directorates of MoNE are also
represented under CoHE and that there is a Teacher Education Commission in
the form of a national committee. He said that the commission had been
working closely with the Ministry of National Education.
He noted that the commission had a meeting yesterday and said, "The results
of this meeting will be announced in the coming days. Eventually, the
graduates of our education faculties are employed in the educational
institutions of the Ministry of National Education. In this regard, our
priority is to have teachers acquire the competencies required by the
Ministry in the faculties. We want our universities to be more effective in
conducting in-service training to be opened by the Ministry of National
Education under the coordination of CoHE."
Saraç thanked Ziya Selçuk for the protocol and presented his book
“Information on Classical Literature,” which was published by the Turkish
Language Association in 2019.
- Events for awareness to be organized for families
With the protocol, programs related to the professional development of
teachers and education directors will be held during pre-service and
in-service training.
In this context, the Ministry of National Education will cooperate with
CoHE on the professional development programs to be opened for the
individual and professional development of education directors.
Under the coordination of CoHE, programs and activities will be organized
with higher education institutions to develop the academic, cultural,
social and emotional skills of students and awareness development of
families.
CoHE and MoNE will cooperate in developing the content of master's programs
with thesis and without thesis to be opened for candidate teachers in
secondary education.
The Ministry will cooperate with universities for the programs to be opened
for the professional development of teachers during the training of
candidate teachers under the coordination of CoHE.
Cooperation will be carried out with universities under the coordination of
CoHE in carrying out in-service training to be opened by MEB.
CoHE will encourage academic and research counseling by faculty members at
universities for students in state education institutions affiliated with
MoNE and the opening of undergraduate completion and graduate programs for
teachers who are foreign nationals of Turkish descent living abroad.
Within the scope of the coordination and cooperation aimed at training
teachers, CoHE and MoNE also agreed on the courses of "teaching practice"
and "guidance practices in schools" to be carried out by practice students
in educational institutions affiliated with the Ministry of National
Education.
The faculties that train teachers will organize seminars to train practice
teachers, who will take part in teaching practice, in coordination with the
provincial directorates of national education.
Source: Anadolu Agency