Abstract:

Th e Turkish Ministry of Education released the secondary school chemistry curriculum for grade 12 in 2011 and it was put into practice during the school year 2011–2012. Th is study was done on the implementation of the new curriculum with 19 chemistry teachers in Eyup district of Istanbul. Th ose teachers who took part in the study was applied a 15-question semi-structured survey on their views about the grade 12 curriculum in general and the grade 12 chemistry book prepared and distributed by the Ministry of Education in particular. During the interviews, four primary questions were asked and other secondary research questions were also asked about the grade 12 curriculum and the chemistry course book for the grade level 12. Th e interviews were recorded upon approval from the teachers. During the interviews, teachers especially placed emphasis on the fact that the content of the new chemistry curriculum was too loaded to be handled in two class periods and they indicated that they failed to understand the educational attainment intended for the course. Since according to the new curriculum, it takes longer to cover long sections devoted to chemical elements in the new chemistry book, they cannot properly teach organic chemistry due to limited classtime. Among students attending diff erent types of schools, a high level of diff erence in their ability to learn was observed. If teachers fail to take such diff erences into account and design their teaching accordingly, the implementation of the new curriculum cannot be successful in the degree it was supposed to be. It is recommended that in order to ensure a smooth transition period for teachers so that they could better deal with new education curriculums, more seminars and in-service trainings based on constructive learning and appropriate pedagogical approaches should be given to teachers. Keywords: Secondary school, chemistry education, curriculum, teacher evaluations, awareness

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