Again, anew, and once more: the curriculum is changing

In this country, it is impossible to find anyone, regardless of their political views, who is not dissatisfied with the education system. For this reason, many changes and reforms have been made from the past to the present to address this dissatisfaction, and the curriculum has been changed many times. Unfortunately, none of these have yielded the desired results, and education has continued to decline year by year. We are currently on the eve of a new curriculum change. The changes to be made have slowly begun to be shared with the public.

The title 'Turkey Century Education Model' (Türkiye Yüzyılı Maarif Modeli) is being used for the upcoming changes. It does not go unnoticed that the word 'maarif' (an older term for education) is preferred over the modern word 'eğitim'. I suppose there is an emphasis on a local, national, and religiously sensitive model. Anyway, let's get to the content. In fact, the Ministry of National Education (MEB) had announced the purpose of this curriculum change as simplification, which is a situation that many educators agree should be done. The curriculum is indeed very heavy and full of unnecessary information in some places. Simplifying this curriculum would be a correct step in terms of lightening the burden on students and teachers. However, looking at the current point, it is possible to see that the MEB is planning a radical change rather than just simplification.

If a radical change is being planned, was it shared transparently with the education community, especially teachers, before these changes? Of course not. Once again, we are faced with a top-down model. For such a change, the correct approach would be to implement it in pilot regions first, examine the outcomes, make the necessary adjustments based on teacher feedback, and then implement it across the entire country. Unfortunately, this will not be the case. The positive side is that these changes will not be implemented in all grades at once, but in stages. That is, these changes will be implemented in the 1st, 5th, and 9th grades next year, and students currently receiving education under the old system will not be affected by these changes.

One of the important institutions whose opinions should be taken regarding curriculum changes is the faculties of education at universities. I assume that MEB officials must have sought the opinions of universities for these changes. It would be appropriate for these opinions to be shared with the public. The positive and negative views of university education faculties must be revealed.

On a subject that closely concerns all segments of society, such as education, the MEB should transparently take criticisms into account. Otherwise, like previous changes, these changes will leave deep wounds on several generations and take their place in the junkyard of unnecessary actions.

I would also like to state that no matter how imaginary and beautiful things you design, if you do not listen to the teachers who are the actual implementers of the curriculum, and if you do not consider the qualifications and suitability of the teaching staff you have, that curriculum will, in colloquial terms, blow up in your face. It seems that a curriculum bomb with the pin pulled has been left on the education system once again. I hope it doesn't explode, but frankly, I have no hope.