Abstract:

This study aims to determine the problems faced by students, teachers and school administrators in the adaptation of the foreign students studying in secondary schools in Kastamonu province to the education system and to identify solution related to these problems. This study is a qualitative research. Face-to-face interview method was used through Multiple Holistic Case Study. The data were obtained from the interviews with eight teachers and eight administrators in Kastamonu province in 2018. Interviews were conducted through a semi-structured interview form prepared by the researcher. Descriptive analysis method was used to analyze the data of the audio recorded interviews. According to the research results, it became clear that foreign students’ poor command of Turkish is the most important problem encountered by students, teachers and principals. For this reason, these students fail academically and are initially excluded by their friends. With the increase in the number of foreign students in schools, the incidence of violence and gang involvement increases among students. It was found that the absenteeism rate and dropout rate of these students are high and the families of these students are in financial difficulties. It was observed that the enrollment of foreign students in the underage ranking classes during the equivalence procedures caused some problems, too. The mass of foreign students in some particular schools has increased the problems and caused new ones.

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