Current Transformations in Turkish Education Policies in the Context of Global Agendas and Increasing Interaction in Education

Since the 2000s, Türkiye has taken important steps toward improving the quality of education in line with global goals and supported this concretely by putting forth a perspective on economic, social, and conjunctural developments both in the world and in the country in its top policies. Development plans emphasize global concepts such as the power of human resources, innovation, technology, and international cooperation in the successful continuation of the country’s economic and social development. Education constitutes an important dimension of Türkiye’s inclusive and sustainable growth targets and has been addressed in recent years with a holistic approach. Indeed, all targets for increasing participation in education before and after basic education have addressed the issue of access to education in a global context in the 11th Development Plan and the 2023 Education Vision Document. This chapter will evaluate the prominent activities in Türkiye in the areas of early childhood, vocational, and technical education, as well as teachers’ professional development. Access to early childhood education has been the focus of this policy for most of the last decade, with a number of measures having been taken in recent years. The 2023 Education Vision and the high targets set for vocational and technical education take into account global trends within the framework of the country’s needs, such as training qualified manpower; improving educational environments, human resources, and curricula; and ensuring the relationship among education, employment, and production. By recognizing that improving the quality of education largely depends on the professional development of teachers, an important step that has been taken recently in this regard is the recognition of teaching as a career profession through the Professional Development Law enacted in 2022.