Abstract:

The purpose of this research is to document the problems in Turkish education system from the perspectives of the educators involved within. The research is a phenomenological study. The study group is composed of 41 participants including teachers, school principals, deputy principals, educational inspectors and branch directors who study at Gaziantep University’s Educational Administration, Supervision, Planning and Economics non-thesis master’s program. The data was collected via a survey and analyzed with the content analysis method. The research set forth the issues related to teachers, students, administrators, parents, physical substructure, financing and curriculum which represent the inputs of Turkish education system. The participants reported deficiencies and problems regarding each of these components. Analysis of data point to main problems with regard to teacher qualification, teacher professional development, job assignment and financial difficulties, working conditions; intense exam pressure, student discipline problems; socioeconomic level of families; assignment and training of administrators, management skills of administrators; school-parent relationships, parental involvement; the physical location, architectural structure and elements of school buildings; school budget, ignorance of regional differences regarding curricula documents, content-related issues, and teachers’ familiarity of the programs. The study discusses the educational implications of the findings and suggests certain solutions to reported difficulties.

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