Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options World Bank Human Development Department Europe and Central Asia Region June 30, 2011 Copyright @ 2010 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20433, USA All rights reserved The World Bank enjoys copyright under protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention. This material may nonetheless be copied for research, educational or scholarly purposes only in the member countries of The World Bank. Material in this report is subject to revision. CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS (Exchange Rate Effective June 30, 2011) Currency Unit = TL (Turkish lira) US$1 = 1.61 YTL ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS AÇEV Anne Çocuk EÄŸitim Vakfı (Mother Child Education Foundation) ECA Europe and Central Asia ECD Early Childhood Development ECE Early Childhood Education (or Pre-Primary Education) EMIS Education Management Information Systems ERI Education Reform Initiative ESD E-School Database GDP Gross Domestic Product LYS Lisans YerleÅŸtirme Sınavı (Undergraduate Placement Examination) MoNE Ministry of National Education NGO Non-governmental Organization OECD Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development OKS Ortaöğretim Kurumları Öğrenci Seçme Ve YerleÅŸtirme Sınavı (High School Entrance Examination) ÖBBS Öğrenci BaÅŸarılarını Belirlenmesi Sınavı (Student Achievement Assessment Examination) ÖSS Öğrenci Seçme Sınavı (Secondary Education Entrance Examination) ÖSYM Öğrenci Seçme Ve YerleÅŸtirme Merkezi (Student Selection and Placement Center) ÖYGM Öğretmen YetiÅŸtirme Ve EÄŸitimi Genel Müdürlüğü (General Directorate of Teacher Training and Education) PISA Programme for International Student Assessment PTC Private Tutoring Center SBS Seviye Belirleme Sınavı (Level Determination Examination) SPO State Planning Organization TALIS Teaching and Learning International Survey TEFBÄ°S Türkiye’de EÄŸitimin Finansmani Ve EÄŸitim Harcamalari Bilgi Yönetim Sistemi (Turkey Education Financing and Education Expenditures Information Management System) UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund YGS Yükseköğretime Geçis Sınavı (Higher Education Examination) YÖK Yükseköğretim Kurumu (Higher Education Council) Vice President: Philippe H. Le Houérou Country Director: Ulrich Zachau Sector Director: Alberto Rodríguez Task Team Leader: Juan Diego Alonso Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options iv Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey: Challenges And Options Contents Acknowledgements................................................................................................................................................... v Executive Summary.................................................................................................................................................. vii Chapter 1- Introduction. ........................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2 - Pre-Primary Education. ......................................................................................................................... 8 A. Background................................................................................................................................................. 8 B. What Is The Status Of Pre-Primary Education In Turkey?......................................................................... 9 C. Policy Options............................................................................................................................................. 14 Chapter 3 - Teachers................................................................................................................................................. 16 A. Background................................................................................................................................................. 16 B. What Is The Status Of Teachers In Turkey? ............................................................................................... 17 C. Policy Options............................................................................................................................................. 21 Chapter 4 - Financing............................................................................................................................................... 23 A. Background................................................................................................................................................. 23 B. What Is The Status Of Financing In Turkey?.............................................................................................. 23 C. Policy Options ............................................................................................................................................ 28 Chapter 5 - Information............................................................................................................................................ 30 A. Background................................................................................................................................................. 30 B. What Is The Status Of Information In Turkey? .......................................................................................... 31 C. Policy Options............................................................................................................................................. 34 Chapter 6 - Conclusions. .......................................................................................................................................... 36 References................................................................................................................................................................. 41 Annex . ..................................................................................................................................................................... 49 Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options v Acknowledgements This report was prepared by a World Bank team comprising Juan Diego Alonso, Maureen McLaughlin, and Işıl Oral. We thank the report’s peer reviewers Juan Manuel Moreno Olmedilla and Reema Nayar for their useful and insightful comments and guidance. From within the World Bank, helpful guidance, comments, and assistance were also provided by Özgür AvcuoÄŸlu, Jesko Hentschel, Jennifer Manghinang, Tamar Manuelyan Atinc, Mamta Murthi, Cristóbal Ridao Cano, Elif Yonca Yükseker and Ulrich Zachau. We also thank Ina-Marlene Ruthenberg, Arzu Uraz, Sébastian Trenner, Michael Mertaugh, and Furuzan Bilir for their valuable comments and contributions at different stages of the report. Special gratitude is due to H.E. Nimet Çubukcu, Minister and Esengül Civelek, Undersecretary of Ministry of National Education for their broad support and overall guidance during the preparation of the report. We would also like to acknowledge the very useful insights and valuable contributions of our partners and participants in many meetings during 2009-2011: a) from within the Ministry of National Education: Sadettin Sabaz and Salih Celik, Deputy Undersecretaries; Hande Binnet, Timur Yalçın and Yavuz ÅžiÅŸman, Advisors to the Minister; Orhan Ergün and Ahmet Er from the Strategy Development Department; Ãœnal Akyüz and Tuncay YelboÄŸa from the Project Coordination Unit; Ahmet Murat AltuÄŸ, Cengiz Emik, Kamil Topçu, Niyazi Kaya from the General Directorate of Primary Education; Meral Alkan, Turan ÅžiÅŸman and Turgay TaÅŸkın from the General Directorate of Education Technologies; Neziha Çarkıt Kurtipek and Serap Laleli from the General Directorate of Higher Education; Funda Kocabıyık and Nurettin Konaklı from the Pre-School Education General Directorate; b) from other key institutions in Turkey: Özgür Pehlivan, Elvan Ongun, Aslı Ozar, Åžeyma Akkul and Fatih Tarhan from the Undersecretariat of Treasury; Yılmaz Tuna, Ahmet Alper Ege, Serdar Polat, Yusuf Yüksel, Alper Yatmaz and Betül Ersin from the State Planning Organization; Fatima TarpiÅŸ, Emel Ural and Gürleyen Gök from the Turkish Statistics Institute; Hakan Yılmaz from Ankara University; Ozan Acar and Esen ÇaÄŸlar from TEPAV (Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey); AyÅŸit Tansel from Middle East Technical University; Ali Ekber Åžahin, Cem Kadılar, Güler Koçberber, Hülya Çıngı from Hacettepe University; Giray BerberoÄŸlu, ÇiÄŸdem IÅŸ Güzel, Betül Yayan, Ä°lker Kalender and Ayhan KürÅŸat ErbaÅŸ from Cito Türkiye; Seyfettin Gürsel, Gökçe Uysal- KolaÅŸin, Mehmet Alper Dinçer from BETAM (BahçeÅŸehir University Center for Economic and Social Research); Neyyir Berktay, Batuhan Aydagül and AytuÄŸ ÅžaÅŸmaz from the Education Reform Initiative; Haluk Levent, Ozan Bakış and Sezgin Polat from Galatasaray University; and O. Tolga Kaskatı, Burcu TaÅŸkan, H. Umut Yıldırım, Nuray BaÅŸer Baysal from BNB Consulting Company. 2 HKG THA Growth in GDP per capita CYP TUN USA IRL ITA ISL Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options IDN FIN CHE CAN ESPBEL FRA vii MAR EGY NLD 0 NOR AUT IND BRA GRC AUSTUR GBR Executive Summary MEX NZL CHL ARG COL ROM JOR ZWE -2 -0.7  -0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5 0.7 FigureES1–QualityofEducationMattersforEconomic Test scores Figure ES1 – Quality of Education Matters for Economic Growth Growth   Panel A - Relationship between test scores and economic Panel B Panel - Relationship BͲ Relationship between betweenyears yearsof of schooling schooling and and Panelcontrolling growth, AͲRelationship between for years testscoresandeconomic of schooling economic economic growth, growth, controlling controlling for for test testscores scores growth,controllingforyearsofschooling 2.0 2 HKG SGP 1.5 CYP THA MAR Growth in GDP per capita ZAF 1.0 USA TUN TWN BRA Growth in GDP per capita CYP HKG TUN IDN ISL PRT THA USA IRL ITA 0.5 KOR NOR IRL PER FIN IDN FRA CHE DNK CHL CHE ESPBEL ITA CAN ISL CAN ARG MAR EGY NLD 0.0 0 NOR MEXESPAUS GRC ISR AUT IND EGY SWE BRA GRC AUSTUR BEL GBR JPN TUR MYS NLD AUT GBR FIN FRA ROM M -0.5 NZL CHN PHL NZL MEX IRN IND URY COL -1.0 GHA CHL ZWE ARG COL ROM -1.5 JOR ZWE JOR -2 -2.0 -0.7 -0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5 0.7 -4.0 -3.0 -2.0 -1.0 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 Test scores Years of schooling  Source: Hanushek & Wößmann (2007b), Figure 4.2, p. 34 PanelBͲRelationshipbetweenyearsofschoolingand Source:Hanushek&Wößmann(2007b),Figure4.2,p.34 economicgrowth,controllingfortestscores A. Introduction and Background 2.0 Region (EBRD, forthcoming). Roughly 5 in 10 SGP Turks believe that education should be the highest 1.5 CYP priority area for additional government investment 1. Providing education forTWN all has been a core ZAF MAR TUN 1.0 USA BRA – the highest proportion among Europe and Central Growth in GDP per capita HKG objective of many governments PRT 0.5 IDN THA since KOR the launch NOR Asia (ECA) countries after Tajikistan. Turkey’s level IRL PER of the Millennium Development ISL CHE ITA DNK CANARG Goals aCHL decade of dissatisfaction with public education (primary and 0.0 ago (UNESCO, EGY 2010). Improving MEX SWE BEL ESPAUS GRC GBR educational ISR JPN secondary) is almost twice as high as when compared TUR MYS AUT FIN NLD attainment alone is not CHNenough, however. The PHL quality FRA -0.5 NZL ROM with the dissatisfaction with receiving medical of the education provided by the URY system is a necessary IND treatment in the public health system. IRN COL -1.0 GHA component to achieve long-term gains in economic ZWE -1.5 growth. Therefore, equipping JOR children with the high- 3. Basic education is the foundation of education quality knowledge and skills needed for today’s labor -2.0 -4.0 -3.0 -2.0 -1.0 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 and learning and, as such, is the point where Turkey market should be the priority. Years of schooling started its push for education for all. As a result, Turkey has made remarkable progress on access to As Figure Source: Hanushek ES1 shows, the level &Wößmann of students’ (2007b),Figureknowledge 4.2,p.34 basic education and now has almost universal primary and skills measured by international test scores is school enrollment - a 98.4 percent net enrollment rate strongly associated with economic growth (Panel A). as of 2010/11. The gap in access across regions has also Increased years of schooling alone do not seem to narrowed significantly over time, although enrollment have any impact on economic growth once we adjust continues to vary significantly across regions For for the quality of education (Panel B). In other words, example, in Hakkari, an Eastern province of Turkey, attending school will have a substantial impact on the net enrollment rate for primary education as of the future economic development of the country only 2010-11 is 92.4 percent, while it is almost 100% for the if students effectively learn the cognitive and non- province of Ankara, where the capital of the country is cognitive skills needed to access the labor market. located (MoNE, 2011). 2. Education is the biggest area of concern for 4. Having achieved close to universal participation Turkish people, according to a recent survey of 29 in primary education, Turkey now sees the need to countries in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) improve the quality of education. To address this issue Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options viii Turkey is beginning with basic education, as the quality being the differences in socio-economic and family of student learning in the initial years of education has background of individuals (Dinçer & Uysal, 2010). a major impact on quality in later years. Results show that approximately two-thirds of the students in science high schools and one-half of the 5. An evaluation of the current status of basic students in Anatolian high schools belong to the education in Turkey shows that quality is much richest 20 percent of the households where at least one lower in Turkey than in most OECD countries with 15-year-old lives. significant gaps between low and high performers. An international assessment of learning among 15- 8. Differences in performance are also closely year-olds who are still enrolled in school (OECD’s associated with specific characteristics of the school PISA 2009) shows that the average 15-year-old in attended, most notably the degree of academic Turkey is 1 school year behind the average OECD selectivity of these high-quality schools. As access counterpart in reading, math and science skills (OECD, to these institutions hinges heavily upon successful results in the secondary education entrance exams, 2010a). Roughly half of 15 year-olds in Turkey are at or some students start taking private tutoring classes at below the lowest proficiency level compared to about as early as 10 years old. But since access to private 20 percent for the average OECD country (Figure tutoring depends on the student’s family income, ES2). Proficiency levels vary by region in Turkey with enrollment in the top secondary schools is highly lower scores in the Eastern regions. They also vary by correlated with income and wealth. This, in turn gender. This being said if girls remain in school until tends to exacerbate the existing level of inequality they are 15 years old they perform as well as or better with which the students enter the education system than boys on average. (BerberoÄŸlu & Kalender, 2005). A system of high- stakes entry exams for secondary education coupled 6. Quality is also uneven across different types of with few schools of significantly high quality tend to schools in Turkey, which leads to lifelong inequities reduce a country’s average educational performance among students depending on where they go to and increase educational inequality (Hanushek & school. As Figure ES3 shows, only about 16 percent Wößmann, 2006). of the 15-year-olds in Turkey attend schools with average reading, math or science test scores that are 9. This Policy Note is designed as an input for the comparable to or above the OECD average of 500 discussion among stakeholders in Turkey on how to points (OECD, 2010a). improve the quality and equity of basic education. As shown in Figure ES4, three broad areas are critical in 7. These differences in performance are associated supporting high quality learning outcomes: (a) inputs with many factors, one of the most important and processes, including pre-primary education, Figure ES2 - Distribution of Math proficiency Levels of 15-year- olds in Turkey and the OECD (PISA, 2009)  30 25.2 25.5 24.9 25 23.1 20 18.9 18.4 17.0 14.7 % 15 10 8.4 8.8 8.4 5 3.8 2.2 1.0 0 BelowLevel  Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6 1 Turkey OECD Average Source: World Bank on the basis of PISA 2009 results Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options ix Figure ES3 - Distribution of PISA 2009 Math scores of 15-year-olds across different types of schools in Turkey 650 40% 36.4% 600 35% 30% 550 26.2% 25% 500 20% 450 13.8% 15% 10.7% 400 10% 6.4% 4.2% 350 5% 2.4% 300 0% Science High Anatolian  High Anatolian  Voc.& OtherSchools GeneralHigh  Vocationaland  Primary Schools Schools Schools Tech.Schools Schools Technical Schools %Enrollment Reading Math Science  Source: World Bank on the basis of PISA 2009 results Figure ES4 - Critical Areas to Support High-Quality Student Outcomes Source: World Bank adaptation of framework in World Bank (2008b) teachers, school leadership, curricula, learning 10. The Policy Note examines in detail four areas materials and equipment, and school facilities; (b) in which the Government of Turkey (GoT) has incentives, monetary as well as non-monetary, to indicated interest in policy dialogue with the encourage better teaching and learning; and (c) World Bank: early childhood education, teachers, accountability for improved outcomes through more education financing, and information. effective voice by students, parents, teachers, school • Early Childhood Education: Early childhood leaders, and communities at the local level as well development provides significant long-term as policy makers and the public at the national level. benefits for future learning and helps to ensure Financing and information are tools that affect all that students start school with the endowments three areas; in fact, a well-designed financing system needed for successful learning. The government and an educational system that encourages the use has recognized the need for more pre-primary of information at all levels of decision-making can education as coverage is low and unequal in support a more efficient and equitable system. Turkey. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options x • Teachers: High quality teachers are the most B. Policy Area 1: Early Childhood important factor in helping improve students’ Education learning outcomes and are therefore the backbone of the educational system. The quality of teaching 12. Investments in the early childhood years yield in Turkey is low by international standards, which the highest rates of return, from an individual is exacerbated by increasing demands for teachers as well as a social point of view (Carneiro & due to a largely young population and efforts to Heckman, 2004). It is in the early years of life (from increase student enrollment across the country. birth to 6 years old), that a child develops all the basic brain and physiological structures upon which growth • Financing: An efficient and equitable system and learning depend. The older a child gets with of public and private financing helps support development delays, the harder and more costly it will effective education. Turkey faces a rigid system of be to get the child back to his/her normal development public financing that does not provide incentives trajectory (World Bank, 2009). Benefits from early for improved school performance coupled with investments are highest for young children in at-risk high private spending that reinforces inequities in families including but not limited to low-income access to high quality education. families and families with parents who have low levels of education. • Information: Effective education systems collect, use and disseminate information for parents, 13. Although there has been significant progress students, teachers, school leaders, communities, in access to early childhood education in Turkey, policy makers and the public to help improve especially in the last decade, participation is low performance, provide more voice, and introduce and inequitably distributed. Pre-primary education accountability. Turkey does not have such a system in Turkey covers the period from 36 to 72 months of although the Ministry of National Education age (from when a child turns 3 until he or she turns 6, (MoNE) is undertaking initiatives to expand the usually referred to as 3 to 5 years old), including two availability and use of information. years of pre-school (ages 3 and 4) and the kindergarten year (age 5), and it is not compulsory. The coverage 11. The document provides an analysis and rate for pre-primary education in Turkey remains low benchmarking of the performance of basic (at 30 percent) compared to much higher rates for most education in Turkey in each of these areas along countries with similar GDP per capita, like Bulgaria or with international evidence and a discussion of Belarus (see Figure ES5). This problem is compounded specific policy options. The four policy areas are by sharp differences in access across different socio- tackled sequentially. economic backgrounds: although the poorest families Figure ES5 - Pre-Primary Education Gross Enrollment Rates for 3-5 Year-Olds, 2010 (percent) 120 120 Mexico Biçim Mexico Czech Republic South Korea Germany Czech Republic South Korea Germany deneti France France Sweden Switzerland Sweden Switzerland Italy Italy 100 100 Netherlands Netherlands Slovakia Slovakia Pre-primary Gross Enrollment Rate (%) Pre-primary Gross Enrollment Rate (%) Austria Austria Norway Belarus Norway Belarus Japan Japan Cyprus Cyprus Bulgaria Australia Bulgaria Australia 80 Slovenia United Kingdom 80 Slovenia United Kingdom Portugal Portugal Canada Canada Greece Greece Finland Finland Panama Panama 60 United States 60 United States Kazakhstan Kazakhstan 40 40 Guatemala Turkey Guatemala Turkey 20 20 Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia 0 0 0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 GDP per capita (US dollars) GDP per capita (US dollars) Source: Authors’ calculations on the basis of data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options xi have, on average, four more children than the richest, 16. Policy options for improving the coverage and the latter group is 60 times more likely than the former quality of pre-primary education in Turkey are: to have at least one child enrolled in kindergarten (Aran et al., 2009). Finally, there are also significant • Modify the next stages of MoNE’s roll-out of disparities in enrollment rates across regions within the expansion of early childhood education to the country - the highest enrollment rates are found ensure the country is able to meet its goal of in Amasya (Black Sea Region) – 86.6 percent for 4-5 universal access to kindergarten by 2014/15. year-olds and 59.2 for 3-5 year-olds – and the lowest The next phases of this program could target the in Hakkari (Eastern Anatolia) – 18.5 percent for 4-5 provinces with the lowest enrollment rates first, year-olds and 12.9 for 3-5 year-olds (MONE 2011). and not the other way around, as per the current scheme. In addition, focusing public resources 14. The quality of pre-primary education appears exclusively on the kindergarten year (for 60 to 72 to be fairly low according to the limited empirical months old children) would ensure that every child evidence that exists so far. A recent study evaluated can start primary school with at least one year of the quality of early childhood classrooms in a pre-primary education. The pre-school years (36 randomly selected set of both public and private pre- to 60 months of age) are also very important, and primary schools in Istanbul. The study concluded that would be achieved with a significant degree of both types of institutions face significant structural cooperation between the public and the private shortcomings, from physical arrangements to teacher- sector. While kindergartens would be fully pupil interactions, although the private sector seems to supported by MoNE, the government would need handle daily routines and teacher-parent interactions to develop a plan using shared financing to extend more effectively (Göl-Güven, 2009). pre-primary education to younger cohorts, focusing public resources primarily on those children from 15. The government has recognized the need for families most at risk. investing in early childhood education to ensure all students start school ready to learn. In order to • Develop a quality assurance framework for achieve this, MoNE has recently launched a program public and private provision of early childhood aimed at fulfilling two targets by the start of the school education. Expanding the scope and variety of year 2014/15: pre-school options including centers, schools and kindergartens can be carried out more effectively • universal enrollment for kindergarten (students when a quality assurance framework is in place. aged 60-72 months old), and For example, Australia has recently introduced a new National Quality Framework that emphasizes • 50 percent participation for pre-primary education improving staff-to-child ratios, setting new (students aged 36-72 months old). qualification requirements for early childhood educators, creating a new quality rating system The program focuses initially on the 32 pilot provinces and establishing a national body to guide the with the highest gross enrollment rates - those with implementation and management of the overall above 50 percent participation for kindergarten – in framework (Council of Australian Governments, order to achieve universal kindergarten enrollment in 2009). these provinces by the end of school year 2009/10. MoNE chose to begin with these provinces because • Expand the information campaigns about the they do not need new infrastructure in order to importance of early childhood education. A accommodate all new students. Thus, universal multipronged approach using media, websites, participation can be achieved more easily and more local MoNE branches, schools and community quickly in these provinces than in others. Beyond these leaders, with special emphasis on the most provinces, the plan is to reach 100 percent coverage in disadvantaged areas of the country and the most about 12 provinces per year for the next four school disadvantaged populations would be needed. An years, expanding access last to areas with the lowest excellent example of such activities in Turkey is coverage and greatest needs. AÇEV’s “7 is too lateâ€? campaign (AÇEV, 2009). Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options xii C. Policy Area 2: Teachers 17. “Teacher qualityâ€? is the single most important 18. Turkey is a young country with a growing student school variable influencing student achievement population which generates pressing demands to (Hattie, 2003; Santiago, 2002; OECD, 2009a). Having increase the teacher corps. Short-term measures to effective teachers can substantially close the average mitigate these demand pressures on the system have achievement gap between low-income and high- usually come at the expense of quality, for example, income students, and low-performing students benefit through the hiring of less-than-qualified substitute more from more effective teachers (Ripley, 2010) . teachers or by lowering the admission standards for Great teachers tend to set big goals for their students placement into education faculties (Özden, 2004). and are constantly looking for ways to improve their effectiveness (Farr, 2010). Figure ES6 - Teachers’ Issues Hindering Instruction and Learning: Turkey vs. OECD 50 Turkey OECD 40 30 % 20 10 0 LackofPedagogical ArrivingLate Absenteeism Preparation  Source: World Bank on the basis of OECD (2009a) 19. The quality of teachers and teaching in Turkey per hour of net contact (teaching) time is almost 50 is low by international standards. Whereas the percent less, even when adjusted for purchasing power average OECD school principal reported that about parity (OECD, 2009a, pp. 400 and 412). As in many a quarter of the teacher corps lacked pedagogical countries, teaching disproportionately attracts people preparation, the average Turkish principal reported that from lower-middle socio-economic status. A recent more than 4 in 10 teachers did (OECD, 2009a). Also, survey of more than 17,000 current students at teacher teachers in Turkey tend to arrive late to work twice training institutes shows that roughly 70 percent of more often than the average OECD teacher and have these students’ mothers and about 40 percent of these higher rates of absenteeism (Figure ES6). This seems students’ fathers only completed primary education to be partly related to a lack of a strong professional (Aksu et al., 2010). approach to teaching careers in Turkey. According to the results of a teacher survey conducted by the Turkish 20. Policy options to improve the quality of teaching Education Personnel Union in 2009, 93.1 percent of in Turkey are: the teachers indicated that the teaching profession • Support and hold accountable new teachers in is losing its prestige. Moreover, 57.6 percent are not the first few years of teaching. New teachers need pleased with the working environment. But it could support and learning on the job as they struggle also be related to work time and pay: whereas the with classroom management, assessing student total statutory working time for a primary education work, motivating students to learn, interacting with teacher is 10 percent larger in Turkey when compared colleagues, and communicating with parents. One to the average OECD teacher, the teacher salary approach is to build performance measures into Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options xiii the system from the first year where new teachers D. Policy Area 3: Financing needing more support have an apprenticeship year with extra help. For all new teachers, increased 21. Educational expenditures in OECD countries, responsibilities in years two and three are based including Turkey, have been increasing rapidly on performance as is ultimate tenure (Schwartz et in recent times, outpacing the growth in the GDP al., 2010). per capita (OECD, 2009c). Assessing the quality of this higher investment in education, from both public • Create new incentives — monetary and non- and private sources, is critical. This usually entails monetary — to attract and retain high-quality an assessment on two fronts: efficiency - how much teachers. Creating a stronger connection between the society gets per dollar invested - and equity - teachers’ contributions and the pay and other effectiveness in ensuring that each child gets access to rewards they receive will be central in redesigning a high-quality education. teaching for the next generation (OECD, 2005; OECD, 2011a). To help make teaching a more attractive career choice, many countries, such as 22. Looking at public expenditure on education, Switzerland, Japan and the US are creating new Turkey seems to be relatively efficient, but adding roles and responsibilities for teachers that reward private expenditures to the picture raises questions their expertise without taking them out of the about the overall efficiency of Turkey’s educational classroom (Schwartz et al., 2007). Other incentives expenditures. In fact, Turkey’s educational outcomes could include the support for deployment schemes are in line with outcomes of other countries that spend to place the best teachers in the most disadvantaged similar amounts of public expenditure. However, areas (Farr, 2010) as well as attempting to reward when private expenditures on education are added to excellent performance by using performance- the equation, things change significantly. For example, based pay (Sclafani & Lim, 2008). Hungary and Turkey devote similar total expenditures per student for secondary education – roughly 4,000 US dollars of similar purchasing power parity (PPP) • Improve teacher training, aligning in-service – and yet Turkey’s 15-year-olds are approximately 2 with pre-service training, and establish school- school years behind their Hungarian counterparts in based teacher training strategies. The process math skills. of teacher formation involves the areas of pre- service training, induction and in-service training, which have many disconnects in Turkey, and 23. On equity grounds, the panorama is more need to be embodied within a new paradigm for clear-cut: the financing foundations of the Turkish lifelong learning that includes a high degree of educational system are fairly inequitable and harmonization of policies (Coolahan, 2002) and appear to significantly contribute to increasing the a high degree of peer learning (Kirabo Jackson inequality of opportunity in education. According & Bruegmann, 2009). In fact, emphasizing to the most recent available data, Turkey invests in collaborative partnerships between teachers education as much as the average OECD country and extensive peer-to-peer feedback networks (5.7 percent of the GDP), yet the share of private have proven highly effective in some developed contributions is significantly higher than average: countries like Japan and parts of the United States Turkish households account for about 36 percent of (Bayrakçı, 2009). Another initiative is that of the total (public and private) expenditure on primary “lead teachersâ€?. For example, Canada’s Literacy and secondary education (World Bank, 2005b). The and Numeracy Strategy - a major initiative distribution of this effort for education is highly designed to have all students read, write, do unequal across different levels of income: the richest math, and comprehend at a high level by age 12 20 percent of the households spend almost 14 times - provides intensive training to teachers in how more on educational expenditures than the poorest 40 to teach literacy and numeracy effectively and percent (Duygan & Güner, 2006), and despite the fact has increased the number of “lead teachersâ€? in that 97 percent of all primary and secondary students the primary grades, who share best practices with attend public institutions, where they are not expected other teachers in their schools (OECD, 2005). to pay any fees at all (MoNE, 2011). Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options xiv Figure ES7 - General Secondary Education (GSE) Institutions and Private Tutoring Centers (PTC) in Turkey: 2010-11 4.5 GeneralSecondary 4.0 Education(GSE) 3.5 Private Tutoring Centers (PTCs) 3.0 Thousands 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 Schools Students (thousands) Teachers (hundreds)  Source: World Bank on the basis of MoNE (2011) 24. The significant financial contribution by 26. Policy options to improve the quality of financing households is rooted in a “parallel system of in Turkey are: educationâ€? spearheaded by private tutoring centers, • Introduce a new system for financing called dershanes. Dershanes are exclusively oriented public education that uses formula funding towards helping students succeed both in the secondary arrangements based on capitation principles. school and university entrance examination tests. As of For example, per capita financing is a financing 2009/10, the number of dershanes was almost identical system whereby money follows the student to the total number of general secondary education and resources per student adequately adjust for (GSE) schools, and roughly 1.2 million students factors that affect the cost of education (Alonso & were attending a dershane (Figure ES7). A recent Sánchez, forthcoming; Ross & LevaÄ?ić, 1999). A study shows that attending a dershane increases the reform in that direction is a good step but will be chances of entering university, but only if a relatively more effective if local schools have more control high amount of money (approximately 1,250 US of and capacity to use their resources to meet dollars per year) is spent on private tutoring (Gürün local needs. Capacity building, autonomy and & Millimet, 2008). With significant levels of poverty accountability will maximize the effectiveness of and inequality in the distribution of income in Turkey (World Bank, 2005c), having access to an expensive any of these potential changes (Barrera-Osorio et dershane perpetuates the existing differences in the al., 2009; Eurydice, 2007). distribution of resources and seriously undermines the equality of educational opportunities. High-stakes • Increase targeting of public resources towards exams are at the core of the different ability tracks that the groups with the greatest needs and the students are placed in and thus contribute to unequal highest returns to education. Prioritizing the opportunities and outcomes. allocation of public resources to the groups that are most in need (the poor, girls, rural areas) maximizes 25. The inequalities arising from access to private the returns per dollar spent and contributes to more tutoring are reinforced by significant asymmetries equal educational opportunities across the country. in the distribution of public resources across regions India, for example, created Education Development (Çıngı et al., 2007). The system for financing public Indexes for each of its districts in an effort to better education allocates the bulk of money to provinces target quality-enhancement resources on the most based on an outdated input-driven system. Financial disadvantaged. This effort is a good example of resources do not adequately adjust for demographic how to redistribute public resources to decrease movements (Yılmaz, 2006) or for the cost of educating educational inequities across regions within a more disadvantaged populations (Yılmaz & Emil, given country (Jhingran & Sankar, 2009). Other 2008). important areas for targeting resources within the Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options xv education budget are pre-primary and primary E. Policy Area 4: Information levels where the highest returns to investment are experienced (Carneiro & Heckman, 2004). 27. Information for policy makers, teachers, school leaders, students, parents and the community • Overhaul the current system of secondary and can help improve the quality and equity of basic tertiary education entrance exams. The current education. It will provide all stakeholders with system of entrance examinations encompasses a high degree of early tracking of students and makes more voice to push for change at the local as well the system heavily dependent on private tutoring. as the national level by identifying and analyzing Since access to high-quality private tutoring is what is working well and where improvements so highly correlated with socio-economic status, are needed. Figure ES8 shows how the collection, changing the current configuration of the system analysis, and use of information can encourage quality around these exams would be a significant step improvement through dissemination and discussion of towards increasing educational opportunities data and needed changes, as well as the continuous across the country. One option to consider is the nature of the feedback loop. This loop can and should elimination of both exams. Of special interest is occur at the classroom, school, system and policy the secondary school entrance exam (SBS) which levels. Without information, it is almost impossible is not universal but encompasses one-third of the to work on improving the quality of education since total number of students in dershanes, generating specific areas needing improvement, and the effects of an early-tracking system that makes students as changes remain unknown. young as 11 years old (6th grade) start attending private tutoring to maximize their chances of attending the best public secondary schools in the 28. Recent initiatives in Turkey to start collecting country. A second option would be to significantly and using information suggest an interest in moving reform these exams. This could be accomplished towards better data and more use of it to improve by radically enhancing their scope and nature the system. For example, Turkey recently participated and comprehensively cover more aspects of the in an OECD study on basic education (OECD 2007b) curricula. For example, in the case of the university and in several international tests of student learning entrance tests (YGS-LYS), Turkey could mimic (such as OECD’s PISA). MoNE also launched, in May successful end-of-cycle tests elsewhere in the of 2006, the E-School Database, an integrated database world (e.g. International Baccalaureate, German for all levels of education meant to support the process Abitur, etc.). of achieving information-based education policies. Figure ES8 - Using Information to Improve Quality Collect Analyzedatato and Disseminate Create Data Analysis understand Publish Discuss support for process whatis findings to data happening shedlight change Change: Incentives Accountability Policies Behavior Outcomes  Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options xvi 29. But more needs to be made out of this wealth e.g. graduation rates, results of achievement tests, of information if the data and studies are to be improvement from year to year – at the school truly effective in helping bring about support for level providing more voice to students, parents and change and improvement in Turkey: it will require communities. Turkey could also focus additional a cultural change. Turkey does not have a culture of resources on specific schools with lower outcomes disseminating, discussing and using information to to determine the problems, take steps to address educate the public, parents, students, and communities the issues, and measure change over time. As on the educational outcomes of individual schools or indicated earlier, there are substantial differences of the school system as a whole. Countries that have in learning outcomes by types of schools, which need to be addressed to raise the overall quality of embarked on significant reform and expansion of education and to reduce inequities. The analysis of education usually do so through reports on education school-level data needs to examine the resources and public discussion. For example, Ireland began its at the school as well as the socio-economic status reforms in the 1960s through many key reports and of the school. India, Australia, and the United continued this through the 1990s with an unprecedented States are good examples of such school-level level of consultation on the reports (Coolahan, 2008). information available publicly on the web. 30. Policy options to increase the role of information • Improve the coverage, quality and availability of for improving the degree of decision-making and data on basic education through improvements accountability in the education system in Turkey are: to the E-School Database. If this school-level database is comprehensive and complete, it can be used to develop the annual report on education • Encourage public discussion on education and school report cards. The World Bank’s recent through the production of an annual report use and analysis of certain parts of the database on the state of basic education in Turkey. indicate problems in the comprehensiveness Analyzing, publishing and discussing data on and quality of the data that hamper its current Turkey’s education inputs and outcomes would function. help to generate discussion and action on policy changes needed, as discussed in the Ireland example above. In addition, an annual report F. Conclusions can help policy makers to monitor the system performance and evaluate efforts to improve 31. Although Turkey has significantly expanded quality, making adjustments as needed. A unit in access to education in the last decade, important MoNE could be established to prepare an annual challenges await on two interrelated fronts: quality report with high level government engagement and equity. Turkey’s educational system is currently of in dissemination and discussion. Continuing low quality relative to the growth and competitiveness to participate in international tests of learning ambitions of the country and is also significantly more outcomes, e.g. PISA, is also important in order to inequitable than other OECD countries. collect data over time and to benchmark Turkey’s system against other countries. Coupled with 32. Areas like early childhood education, teachers, these tests, however, is a need for coordinated financing, and information are key to jumpstart conversation and consultation on the findings, and any process aimed at improving the quality of basic a willingness to discuss problems candidly. education in Turkey. Table ES1 below summarizes the key policy options discussed in the paper and the expected impacts on quality and equity. Bold • Make information on individual schools, reforms in these areas will be needed if Turkey wants including inputs and outcomes, widely to enhance the set of skills with which the average available to the public through the creation of student leaves the education system. It will also school report cards for basic education. Report help reduce the existing pattern of inequality across cards would analyze, publish and discuss data on provinces, districts, schools and students. The system education inputs – e.g. availability of learning as of 2010 appears to jeopardize the future prospects materials, teacher qualifications – and outcomes – of the country as well as its social cohesion. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options xvii Table ES1: Summary of Policy Options and Expected Impact on Quality and Equity Policy Area Policy Options Expected Impact o Modify the next stages of MONE’s roll-out of • Increased enrollment rate for 5-year-olds early childhood education expansion program across the country and higher rates of return to ensure the country is able to meet its goal of to education for the most disadvantaged universal access to kindergarten by 2014/15 provinces. Early o Develop a quality assurance framework for • Clearer goals for staff-to-child ratios, new Childhood public and private provision of early childhood requirements for early childhood educators, Education education and the creation of a new quality rating system. o Expand the information campaigns about the • Increased parents’ desire for their children to importance of early childhood education start school earlier. o Support and hold accountable new teachers in • Better environment for the teaching profession the first few years of teaching as a whole. o Create new incentives — monetary and non- • Better-remunerated, more highly motivated monetary — to attract and retain high-quality and more skillful teacher corps. Teachers teachers o Improve teacher training, aligning in-service • Better trained teachers and a less unequal with pre-service training, and establish school- distribution of skills across the teacher force, based teacher training strategies enhanced cooperation across teachers, and larger peer effects. o Introduce a new system for financing • Higher levels of inputs to improve the quality public education that uses formula funding of the most disadvantaged schools. arrangements based on capitation principles o Increase targeting of public resources towards • Higher rates of return to education from the the groups with the greatest needs and the investment in those groups (e.g. lower levels Financing highest returns to education of education, most disadvantaged regions, and girls). o Overhaul the current system of secondary and • Reduced reliance on private funding for private tertiary education entrance exams tutoring or re-investment of these funds into the public system for quality-enhancement activities. o Encourage public discussion on education • Improved knowledge and understanding of the through the production of an annual report of performance of the education system; more the state of basic education in Turkey discussion and support for education reform. o Make information on individual schools, • Improved transparency and accountability Information including inputs and outcomes, widely available at the school level; empowered parents and to the public through the creation of school students. report cards for basic education o Improve the coverage, quality and availability • Better data for education policymaking and of data on education through improvements to for decision-making by parents, students, the E-School Database teachers, and administrators. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 1 Chapter I - Introduction 3. Education is, by far, the biggest area of concern for Turkish people, according to a recent survey of 29 countries in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Region (EBRD, forthcoming). Between October 1. Providing education for all has been a core 2009 and February 2010, the Life in Transition Survey objective of many governments since the launch of (LITS), a joint region-wide initiative of the European the Millennium Development Goals a decade ago Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and (UNESCO, 2010). As a result, enrollment in basic the World Bank (WB), was carried out for the second and secondary education has increased significantly in time. The main objective of the LITS was to “assess many countries, including in Turkey. In fact, Turkey’s the impact of transition on people, and to understand progress in increasing enrollment in basic education how contemporaneous attitudes of people towards has been outstanding with almost universal primary market reforms and political evolution are related to school enrollment at this time (SPO, 2010). objective individual and household characteristicsâ€? Figure 1.1 - The quality of education is what matters for economic growth Panel A -Relationship between test scores and economic Panel B -Relationship between years of schooling and growth, controlling for years of schooling economic growth, controlling for test scores 2.0 2 HKG SGP 1.5 THA CYP MAR ZAF GrowthinGDPpercapita 1 CYP 1.0 USABRA TUN TWN TUN HKG USA ISL IRL IDN GrowthinGDPpercapita ITA THA 0.5 PRT FIN KOR NOR IDN FRA IRL PER CHE ESP BEL CAN CHE DNK CHL MAR NLD ITA 0 NOR EGY ISL CAN ARG AUT 0.0 IND MEX ESP GRC BRA GRC AUS TUR AUS ISR EGY SWE BEL GBR GBR JPN TUR NLD AUT NZL MYS FRAFIN -0.5 ROM CHN PHL MEX NZL IRN IND -1 URY COL -1.0 GHA CHL ARG COL ZWE ROM JOR -1.5 ZWE JOR -2 -2.0 -0.7 -0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5 0.7 -4.0 -3.0 -2.0 -1.0 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 Testscores  Yearsofschooling  Source: Hanushek & Wößmann (2007b), Figure 4.2, p. 34 2. Educational attainment alone is not enough (World Bank, 2007b, Zaidi et al., 2009). Roughly 5 in however: it must be coupled with quality. The qual- 10 Turks believe that education should be the highest ity of the education provided by the system is what priority area for additional government investment really matters to achieve long-term gains in economic – the highest proportion among Europe and Central growth (Hanushek & Wößmann 2007a, 2007b, 2010). Asia (ECA) countries after Tajikistan (Figure 1.2, Therefore, equipping children with the high quality Panel A). Interestingly, the situation is unlike what, on knowledge and skills needed for today’s labor market average, happens in most of the other ECA countries: whereas the bulk of ECA countries rate health as the is a priority. As Figure 1.1 shows the level of students’ sector where government should prioritize any extra knowledge and skills as measured by scores on inter- government spending (Figure 1.2, Panel B), Turkey national tests is strongly associated with economic is just one of 6 countries where people believe that growth (Panel A). Increased years of schooling alone education should be the highest priority. In fact, do not seem to have any impact on economic growth Turkey’s level of dissatisfaction with public education once we adjust for the quality of education (Panel B). (primary and secondary) is almost twice as high as In other words, attending school will have a substan- when compared with the dissatisfaction with receiving tial impact only if students effectively learn the cog- medical treatment in the public health system (11% of nitive and non-cognitive skills needed to access the people say they are not satisfied with public education labor market. compared to about 6% in the case of public health. Assistingthe  Poor 12% Education 47% Health In Turkey Challenges And Options Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education 2 25% Figure 1.2. What Should Be the First Priority for Additional Government Spending: Turkey vs. ECA Countries, 2010 Figure 1.2. What Should Be the First Priority for Additional  A – TurkeySpending: Turkey vs. ECA Countries, 2010 Government Panel Panel B – ECA Countries (Sample Average)  PanelA–Turkey PanelB–ECACountries(SampleAverage) Pensions Infrastructure Housing Infrastructure Environment Housing 9% 1% 3% 2% 10% 6% Education Assistingthe  23% Pensions Poor 13% 12% Education 47% Assistingthe  Poor Health 13% Health 25% 36%  PanelEBRD B–ECA(forthcoming) Countries(SampleAverage) Source:EBRD(forthcoming) Source: Housing Infrastructure Environment 3% 2% 4. Basic education is the foundation of education 10% Education 6. The expansion of the Turkish primary education and learning and, as such, is the point 23% where system did not go without significant challenges, Pensions Turkey started 13% its push for education for all. The however. The massive expansion of the system ran enactment Assisting of the the National Law No. 4306 (August alongside a simultaneous quick pace of urbanization, all Poor 17, 1997) extending compulsory education from five of which resulted in a significant increase in class sizes 13% Health years to eight spearheaded a series of strategies to 36% across most of the urban schools. Also, the new wave of teachers who were quickly put to work to cope with significantly increase access to primary education. the bottlenecks generated by this “newâ€? demand was, These strategies encompassed not only the necessary on average, less skilled. In fact, given that the demand attention to infrastructure and human resource needs, for teachers has exceeded the available yearly supply but also focused on providing an adequate level of in the last years; Turkish educational authorities were Source:EBRD(forthcoming) support for other costs of schooling. forced to allow people who had not been trained as teachers to enter the profession so as to cope with the 5. As a result of these changes, Turkey has made excess demand. These teachers were entitled to work remarkable progress on access to basic education as teachers after a one-year training course, provided and now has almost universal primary school they held a 4-year university degree. enrollment - a 98.4 percent net enrollment rate as of 2010/11. Since 1997, the annual increase in access to 7. Having achieved close to universal participation primary education (1.8 percent) has largely outpaced in primary education, Turkey now sees the need to the annual increase in the population of school age (0.4 improve the quality of education. To address this percent).1 The primary education system now counts issue Turkey is again beginning with basic education almost 11 million students, with a slight gender bias as the quality of student learning in the initial years of education has a major impact on quality in later years. in favor of boys (Figure 1.3). The gap in access across The recent 2010-2014 Strategic Plan issued by the regions has also narrowed significantly over time, MoNE includes numerous steps on improving quality although enrollment continues to vary significantly such as increasing preschool enrollment, lowering across regions. For example, in Hakkari, an Eastern the number of students per classroom, increasing province of Turkey, the net enrollment rate for primary the number of qualified teachers by subject area, education as of 2010-11 is 92.4 percent, while it is and introducing a culture of quality through lifelong almost 100% for the province of Ankara, where the learning and improved institutional capacity and capital of the country is located (MoNE, 2011). efficiency (MoNE 2009b). 1 Authors’ calculations on the basis of information from the National Institute of Statistics of Turkey. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 3 Figure 1.3 – Number of Students Enrolled in Basic Education, by year and gender 12 Total Boys Girls 10 Students (millions) 8 6 4 2 0 1995/1996 2000/2001 2005/2006 2010/2011  Source: World Bank on the basis of MONE (2011) Note: Compulsory education was expanded to 8 years with law No. 4306 as of the educational year 1997/’98. Figure 1.4 - Distribution of Math proficiency Levels of 15-year-olds in Turkey and the OECD (PISA, 2009) 30 25 Turkey OECD 20 15 % 10 5 0 <1 1 2 3 4 5 6  Source: World Bank on the basis of PISA 2009 results. 8. An evaluation of the current status of basic 9. Quality varies by region, with lower levels of education in Turkey shows that quality is much skills and proficiency, on average, in the Eastern lower in Turkey than in most OECD countries with and more remote regions of Turkey. For example, significant gaps between low and high performers. using PISA results, we can see that the average 15 A recent international assessment of learning among year-old in the Southern Anatolia region is about 2 full 15-year-olds who are still enrolled in school (OECD’s school years behind his/her average counterpart in the Programme for International Student Assessment, or Mediterranean region (Figure 1.5). These differences, PISA, 2009) shows that the average 15-year-old in however, are magnified by the fact that only those 15- Turkey is, on average, one full school year behind year-olds in the education system participate in PISA. his/her average OECD counterpart in reading, math Therefore, as enrollment in Southeastern Anatolia is, and science skills (OECD 2010a).2 For example, in on average, much lower than in the Eastern regions, mathematics, roughly half of 15-year-olds are at or the skills of the students who are not enrolled, either below the lowest proficiency level compared to about because they dropped out of school before the age of 20 percent for the average OECD country (Figure 15 or because they never attended one, are not even 1.4). reflected in these averages. 2 A PISA differential score of 40 points is roughly equivalent to a full year of schooling. Turkey’s PISA 2009 scores for Reading, Math and Science were, respectively, 29, 51 and 47 points behind the OECD average. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 4 Figure 1.5 –Distribution of Math Scores by Region (PISA, 2006)* 450 452 444 440 430 419 400 385 372 350 300 Mediterranean Marmara Aegean Black Sea Central Southeastern Eastern Anatolia Anatolia Anatolia  Source: ERI (2009b) *Results by region were not available for the PISA 2009 wave. 10. Quality also varies by gender with 15-year-old percent of the 15-year-olds in Turkey attend schools girls performing, on average, at equal or higher with average reading, math, and science test scores levels than boys on reading and science, but not in that are comparable to or above the OECD average math (Figure 1.6). PISA 2009 results show that the of 500 points (OECD, 2010a). These types of schools, average score for girls is significantly higher than for most notably science high schools and Anatolian high boys especially in reading, where girls tend to score schools, are known to be the so-called “elite public about 40 points higher, i.e. about one full school year schoolsâ€?. They have one feature in common: they tend ahead in reading, when compared to boys. This trend of much better performance for girls, especially in to select their incoming students through a secondary reading, is however fully prevalent across the OECD education entrance examination and, therefore, the countries.3 quality of their students is far higher, on average, that the quality of the students elsewhere in the system. On average, a student attending either a science high 11. Quality is also uneven across different types of schools in Turkey, which leads to lifelong inequities school or an Anatolian high school is anywhere from among students depending on where they go 2 (reading) to 3 (math) full school years ahead of the to school. As Figure 1.7 shows, only about 16% average student attending a general high school. Figure 1.6 –Mean Scores, by type of subject tested and gender (PISA, 2009) 480 470 460 Boys Girls 450 440 430 420 410 400 390 Math Science Reading  Source: World Bank on the basis of PISA 2009 results. 3 The difference in reading scores between girls and boys in reading, for PISA 2009, is also roughly 40 points. See OECD (2010b), Table I.2.3, p.197. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 5 12. These differences in performance are associated pay), enrollment in the top secondary schools is highly with many factors, one of the most important correlated with income and wealth. This, in turn, tends being the differences in socio-economic and to exacerbate the existing level of inequality with family background of individuals (Dinçer & Uysal, which the individuals enter the education system 2010). Results from the analysis of socio-economic (BerberoÄŸlu & Kalender, 2005). A system of high- characteristics of PISA 2009 participants show that stakes entry exams for secondary education coupled approximately two-thirds of the students in science with few schools of significantly high quality tend to high schools and one-half of the students in Anatolian reduce a country’s average educational performance high schools belong to the richest 20 percent of the and to increase educational inequality (Hanushek & households where at least one 15-year-old lives. On Wößmann, 2006). the contrary, about 1 in 30 students attending a science high school and 1 in 17 students attending an Anatolian 14. The combination of high-stakes entrance exams high school come from the poorest 20 percent of and a disproportionately vast network of private families sending their 15-year-olds to school (Figure tutoring centers (PTCs) in Turkey raise serious 1.8). questions about the distribution of opportunities and the levels of intergenerational mobility in 13. Differences in performance are also closely Turkey (Gürün & Millimet, 2008; Tansel & Bircan, associated with specific characteristics of the 2006). As mentioned above, attending a PTC is highly school system, most notably the degree of academic positively correlated with the socio-economic status of selectivity of the high-quality schools. Being able the household where the student lives (Tansel & Bircan, to attend any of the aforementioned schools tends to 2005). Even more important is that attending a PTC secure the entrance to a high-quality higher education increases the chances of entering university, but only institution that may likely result in a much favorable if a relatively high amount of money - approximately position when the individual joins the labor market. 1,250 US dollars per year - is spent on private tutoring But access to these high-quality secondary institutions (Gürün & Millimet, 2008). In other words, private hinges heavily upon successful results in the secondary tutoring can really pay off if you have enough money education entrance exams. This is one of the reasons to spend; otherwise, it is a waste of resources for the why the pressure to get into selective schools early most part. And households may spend anywhere from in students’ lives has fostered an extensive system 1 percent to 15 percent of their incomes, on average of private tutoring to perform well in these entrance (Tansel & Bircan, 2006). The system of PTCs creates exams (Tansel & Bircan, 2008). Students start taking a truly parallel system of education with a number private tutoring classes at as early as 10 years old.4 of institutions that is higher than the total number of But since access to private tutoring depends on the general secondary education institutions in the country student’s family income (or his/her parents’ ability to (Figure 1.9). Figure 1.7 - Distribution of PISA 2009 Math scores of 15-year-olds across different types of schools in Turkey 650 40% 36.4% 600 35% 30% 550 26.2% 25% 500 20% 450 13.8% 15% 10.7% 400 10% 6.4% 4.2% 350 5% 2.4% 300 0% Science High  Anatolian  High Anatolian  Voc.& OtherSchools GeneralHigh Vocationaland  Primary Schools Schools Schools Tech.Schools Schools TechnicalSchools %Enrollment Reading Math Science  Source: World Bank on the basis of PISA 2009 results. 4 In fact, more than 12,000 4th-graders around the country took private tutoring in the year 2009, according to an article - “Dershaneye gitme yaşı 10’a düştüâ€? (The age for enrolling in a private tutoring center dropped to 10) - published in the Radikal newspaper on April 25, 2010. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 6 Figure 1.8 - Distribution of students participating in PISA 2009 according to their families’ income, by type of school 70 65.1 64.7 60 50 45.8 40 33.9 % 30 25.1 20.7 19.0 17.7 20 15.5 14.5 8.1 10 6.0 3.3 0.0 0 Science high  Anatolian Anatolian Others General high Vocational &  Primary schools highschools voc.& tech. schools technical schools schools schools Quintile1(poorest) Quintile5(richest)  Source: World Bank on the basis of PISA 2009 results. Figure 1.9 - General Secondary Education (GSE) Institutions and Private Tutoring Centers (PTC) in Turkey: 2010-11 4.5 GeneralSecondary 4.0 Education(GSE) 3.5 Private Tutoring Centers (PTCs) 3.0 Thousands 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 Schools Students(thousands) Teachers (hundreds)  Source: World Bank on the basis of MoNE (2011) 15. This Policy Note is designed as an input into the 16. The paper examines in detail four areas in which discussion among stakeholders in Turkey on how to the Government of Turkey (GoT) has indicated improve the quality and equity of basic education.5 interest in policy dialogue with the World Bank: As shown in Figure 1.10, three broad areas are early childhood education, teachers, financing, and critical in supporting high quality learning outcomes: information. (a) inputs and processes, including pre-primary education, teachers, school leadership, curricula, • Early Childhood education: Early childhood learning materials and equipment, and school facilities; development provides significant long-term (b) incentives, monetary as well as non-monetary, to benefits for future learning and helps to ensure boost the teaching profession and encourage better that students start school with the endowments teaching and learning; and (c) accountability for needed for successful learning. The Government improved outcomes giving more voice to parents, has recognized the need for more pre-primary teachers, school leaders, and communities at the local education as coverage is low and unequal. level as well as policy makers and the public the national level. Financing and information are tools to affect all three areas; in fact, when used well financing • Teachers: High-quality teachers are the most and information can help support a more efficient and important factor in helping to improve students’ equitable system. learning outcomes and therefore the backbone of 5 Note that this document focuses on “basic educationâ€?, understood as the level of education embedding grades 1 to 8 (compulsory education grades in Turkey) plus the kindergarten year (non-compulsory yet, but that will become compulsory starting on school year 2014/15). Also, it is important to clarify that this document only deals with regular education and will therefore not address education for students with special needs or also known as special education. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 7 the educational system. The quality of teaching in policy makers and the public to help improve Turkey is low by international standards, which is performance, provide more effective voice, and exacerbated with increasing demands for teachers introduce accountability. Turkey does not have due to a young population in Turkey and efforts to such a system although the Ministry of National increase student enrollment across the country. Education (MoNE) is undertaking initiatives to expand the availability and use of information. • Financing: An efficient and equitable system of public and private financing helps to support 17. The document provides an analysis and effective education. Turkey has a rigid system for benchmarking of the performance of basic financing public education that does not provide education in each of these four areas along with incentives for improved school performance international evidence and a discussion of specific coupled with high private spending that reinforces policy options. The chapters that follow tackle inequities in access to high quality education. these four policy areas sequentially. A final chapter summarizes the whole discussion by providing, first, • Information: Effective education systems collect, a snapshot of each policy option alongside a short use and disseminate information for parents, description of how these are expected to impact the students, teachers, school leaders, communities, quality and equity of basic education. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 8 Chapter II Early Childhood Education A. Background strategies that encompass several domains - education, health, nutrition, social and emotional care – and are aimed at helping brain development in the early years 18. Early childhood education (ECE) is an of childhood (Almond & Currie, 2011; Young & intervention for the physical and intellectual Richardson, 2007).8 For an ECD strategy to be most growth of children in their early years of life6, which effective, though, it is critical to: a) provide learning to is embedded within the broader notion of early both children and families; b) be targeted to the most childhood development (ECD) policies. ECD is disadvantaged, c) be of adequate duration, intensity, defined as “the physical, cognitive, linguistic, and socio- and quality, and d) integrate educational services, emotional development of children [from conception] family support, health, and nutrition components until they transition to primary school (p.5)â€? (Naudeau (Engle et al., 2007). et al., 2011). Evidence from international research has shown that ECD interventions are probably one of the best instruments for breaking the intergenerational 19. ECE is the ideal intervention for developing transmission of poverty and inequality (Alderman, cognitive, motor, and socio-emotional skills in 2011; Vegas & Santibáñez, 2010; World Bank, 2009), children before they start a primary education.9 especially for low-income countries (Fernald et al., Grantham-McGregor et al. (2007) estimate that more 2009).7 ECD interventions involve a wide set of than 200 million children in the developing world are Figure 2.1 - Rates of Return to Human Capital Investment  Source: Carneiro and Heckman (2004), Fig.2.6, Panel A, p.91 6 In this chapter, the term ECE (Early Childhood Education) is used to encompass all ECD interventions that happen at an institution that provides activities stimulating the cognitive, motor and socio-emotional skills of children before the start of primary school (from ages 0 to 6). Therefore, day care, pre-school education, and kindergarten are all embedded within the broad definition of ECE. The literature on the topic, however, tends to utilize other terms like Early Childhood Education and Care or ECEC (Eurydice, 2009; OECD 2001, 2006, 2009b, 2009c). 7 Some authors have even labeled ECD interventions as a “business imperativeâ€? of the 21st century. See Coffey (2007). 8 As the Consultative Group for Early Childhood Care and Development explains, “in the early years a child develops all the basic brain and physiological structures upon which later growth and learning are dependentâ€?. See http://www.ecdgroup.com/principles_child_development.asp. 9 It is important to note that the kindergarten year, i.e. the year prior to the start of 1st grade, has been integrated in many countries as an essential component of the elementary school, and is therefore a compulsory year in children’s education cycle (e.g. in the United States). Therefore, technically speaking, in these countries the kindergarten year is indeed the start of primary education. Pre-school education (or pre-kindergarten education) is the term used in these cases to refer to the education for all non-compulsory years of education (0-4). Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 9 exposed to a series of multiple risk factors before the individuals’ lives (See Figure 2.1). And the benefit is age of 5 that strongly affect their future cognitive and maximized when children from disadvantaged families educational performance. These risk factors, one of are targeted (Halle et al, 2009; Heckman, 2008). ECE which is known as inadequate cognitive stimulation programs have shown to have significant short- and (Walker et al., 2007), can be most adequately tackled long-term effects on educational outcomes, like with ECE.10 The older a child gets with developmental increased cognitive development, decreased likelihood delays like this, the more intense, costly and less of placement into special education programs, higher likely it becomes to get him/her back to a normal grade retention and increased probabilities for school developmental trajectory. graduation (Burger, 2010; Heckman & Cunha, 2007; World Bank 2006b)11. Not only has the public provision 20. ECE programs are also the most cost-effective of universal kindergarten has been demonstrated interventions in education. Evidence from internati- to have significant pay-offs (Cascio, 2009), but that onal research shows that ECE programs tend to have the pre-kindergarten years (sometimes referred to as higher rates of return when compared to education in- “pre-school yearsâ€?) are also instrumental in enhancing terventions of identical initial cost at later stages of children’s school readiness (Magnuson et al, 2007). Box 2.1 – Early Childhood Education in Turkey: Does it Pay Off? Research on the relevance and effectiveness of ECE policies in Turkey is growing. A portion of this body of research comes from the evaluation of one set of successful experiments undertaken a long time ago: the long-term study known as the Turkish Early Enrichment Project (TEEP). This project introduced pre-primary enrichment programs, both for children and mothers, in low-income areas of Istanbul back in 1982 and followed children who had participated in the first rounds of the program until adulthood, 22 years later (Kağıtçıbaşı et al. 2001, 2005). The study found that children who benefited from the program were, compared to a control group, more likely to have graduated from high school and even university, and more likely to be employed when compared to peers. Other recent effort to document the importance of ECE policies in Turkey was the cost-benefit study undertaken by Kaytaz (2005). The author found that ECE interventions in Turkey yield anywhere between 2.1 (low-case scenario) to 6.3 (upper-case scenario) Turkish Liras (TL) per each TL invested. More importantly, the author found that programs that supplement pre-primary education for children with support for parents could end up being up to 30 percent more cost-effective (see Kaytaz 2005, Table 3.1, p.29). B. What is the status of Early Childhood Education in Turkey? 22. Turkey has made huge progress in access 21. ECE in Turkey covers the period from 36 to to ECE in the last twenty years, multiplying 72 months of age (from when a child turns 3 until the number of children enrolled in pre-primary he or she turns 6, usually referred to as the group education by approximately 800 percent (MoNE, of 3-to-5-year-olds), including two years of pre- 2011). These trends, however, were most dramatic school (ages 3 and 4) and the kindergarten year (age 5), and it is not compulsory. There are several in the last five school years, where about 113,000 ECE programs in Turkey, offered both by public and students were added to the system annually, resulting private institutions.12 Some institutions offer full-day in a significant increase in the gross enrollment rate for schooling and others offer only half-day. Aside from those children between 36 and 72 months of age (see a parental contribution to expenditure on meals and Figure 2.2). The absolute increase in enrollment at this cleaning materials, all public ECE institutions are free level of education was by far the highest of all levels of charge. Private ECE institutions charge fees. of education in the country during this 5-year period. 10 In fact, Nores and Barnett (2010) find that ECD interventions of educational nature - like the provision of pre-primary education – or combining educational components with other areas – like cash transfers – appear to have larger cognitive effects compared to those ECD interventions that do not have educational components embedded in the design. 11 Box 2.1 documents the evidence for Turkey. 12 See Table A1 and A2 in the Annex for details. Of special interest is a recent set of family education programs oriented for parents of children aged 0 to 6 that was launched in school year 2010/11 by the General Directorate for Apprenticeship and Informal Education. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 10 Figure 2.2 - Number of Students and Increase in Enrollment Rate in Pre Primary Education in Turkey, 1997/98 – 2010/11 45% 1150 Total NumberofStudents 40% 48 Ͳ72 monthAge GroupEnrolmentRate 950 36 Ͳ72 monthAge GroupEnrolmentRate 35% Students(Thousands) 30% 750 25% 20% 550 15% 10% 350 5% 150 0% 1997Ͳ1998 2001Ͳ2002 2005Ͳ2006 2010Ͳ 2011  Source: World Bank on the basis of AÇEV (2009) Figure 2.3 - Pre-Primary Education Gross Enrollment Rates for 3-5 Year-Olds, 2010 (percent) 120 Mexico CzechRepublic SouthKorea Germany France Sweden Switzerland Italy 100 Netherlands Slovakia Pre ͲprimaryGrossEnrollmentRate (%) Belarus Austria Norway Japan Cyprus Bulgaria Australia 80 Slovenia UnitedKingdom Portugal Canada Greece Finland 60 Panama UnitedStates Kazakhstan 40 Guatemala Turkey 20 SaudiArabia 0 0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 GDPpercapita(USdollars)  Source: Authors’ calculations on the basis of data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) * GDP per capita data is measured in US dollars of similar purchase power and were taken from IMF’s World Economic Outlook Database-April 2011. ** Pre-Primary Education Gross Enrollment Rates were obtained from the UIS Dataset of Educational Indicators. It contains only countries for which the latest year with information on this indicator did not go below 2007. 23. Although there has been significant progress compounded by sharp differences in access across in access to ECE in Turkey, participation remains different socio-economic backgrounds: although the relatively low and unequally distributed. The poorest families have, on average, 4 more children coverage rate for pre-primary education for ages than the richest, the latter group is 60 times more 3-5 (36 to 72 months old) in Turkey remains low likely than the former to have at least 1 child enrolled (at 30 percent) compared to much higher rates for in kindergarten (Aran et al., 2009). In other words, most countries with similar GDP per capita, like the children who are enrolled in ECE institutions Bulgaria or Belarus (see Figure 2.3).13 This problem is do not come from the high risk groups who would 13 Two key reasons may help explain the low coverage: a) the fact that pre-primary education is still a non-compulsory level of education; 2) the fact that pre-primary education does not currently benefit from the transportation for students that does exist for other levels of education. We are indebted to one participant at a presentation delivered in the Middle East Technical University for pointing this out to us. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 11 especially benefit from early education (see Figure classrooms in a randomly selected set of both public 2.4). As a result, the children in the latter group begin and private pre-primary schools in Istanbul. The primary school without any preparation and therefore study concluded that both types of institutions face start their educational life lagging their better-off peers significant structural shortcomings, from physical in more developed regions of the country. Finally, arrangements to teacher-pupil interactions, although there are also significant disparities in enrollment the private sector seems to handle daily routines rates across regions within the country - the highest and teacher-parent interactions more effectively. enrollment rates are found in Amasya (Black Sea Özgan (2009)’s qualitative evaluation of the pre- Region) – 86.6 percent for 4-5 year-olds and 59.2 for school development process in the province of Kilis 3-5 year-olds – and the lowest in Hakkari (Eastern also points out to the impact of inadequate physical Anatolia) – 18.5 percent for 4-5 year-olds and 12.9 for conditions and facilities, but also to a lack of school- 3-5 year-olds (MONE, 2011). family cooperation due to pre-primary education still not being perceived as fundamental to children’s 24. Not only are low coverage and inequity in cognitive, motor and socio-emotional development. access to ECE important problems in Turkey, but Teacher quality in pre-primary education is another the quality of pre-primary education appears also issue of concern. Educating/training teachers and to be fairly low. In a recent publication by UNICEF, preparing them for pre-primary teaching is a relatively out of ten indicators considered for benchmarking the new subject in Turkey (See Box 2.2). Teacher training quality and access standards of ECD, Turkey only and education has become one of the key areas of met three, ranking at the bottom of OECD countries reform need in Turkey (Atay-Turhan et al., 2009). The (see Table 2.1). Of particular interest to ECE is the curriculum revision in teacher education has been an fact that Turkey has a 20:1 student-teacher ratio at important starting point in raising the quantity and this level of education, which is much higher than the quality of the teaching force in Turkey (see Tables recommended minimum of 15:1 (UNICEF, 2008). A3 and A4 in the Annex). Renewal of pre-primary education curricula implies a clear tendency of the 25. The low quality of ECE in Turkey appears to government to take appropriate action to increase the be related to both the quality of teaching and the quality of pre-primary education, as well as increasing quality of teaching environments. Göl-Güven (2009) the level of preparedness of students prior to primary recently evaluated the quality of early childhood education. Figure 2.4- Who benefits from pre-primary education in Turkey? Figure2.4ͲWhobenefitsfrompreͲprimaryeducationinTurkey? 800.000 70.000 Percapitaexpendituredeciles 700.000 60.000 600.000 50.000 Childrenindecile Households 500.000 40.000 400.000 30.000 300.000 20.000 200.000 100.000 10.000 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (poorest) Numberofchildrenindecile(Ages4Ͳ6)  Source: Aran et. al. (2009), Fig.4, Panel B, p.12 Source:Aranet.al.(2009),Fig.4,PanelB,p.12 Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 12 Table 2.1 - Benchmarking ECD Services across Selected OECD Countries Turkey Mexico Spain Germany Italy Japan Potugal Korea Hungary Slovenia Finland France Sweden Prenatal leaveof1yearat 50% salary X X X X Nationalplan prioritizing disadvantagedchildren X X X X X X X X X X X Subsidizedchildcare servicesfor25%of3Ͳ yearͲ X X X X Subsidizedandaccredited ECD  servicesfor80% of4Ͳ X X X X X X X X 80% ofall child care staff trained X X X X X X X X X X X X 50% ofECD staff educated withrelevant qualification X X X X X X X X X X X Minimumstaff to children ratio1:15inpreͲprimary X X X X 1%ofGDPspent onECD  services X X X Childpoverty ratelessthan 10% X X X X Nearuniversaloutreachof essentialchild health X X X X X X TOTAL BENCHMARKS 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 6 6 8 8 10 MET  Source: Aran et al. (2009), Table 3, p.14 Box 2.2 - Teacher Training and its Significance in Improving the Quality of Pre-Primary Education in Turkey In Turkey, the quality of pre-primary services is measured to a large extent by the infrastructure of schools and the diploma of the school teacher in the program (Bekman & Gürlesel, 2005). However, these are only limited aspects of quality. According to OECD quality benchmarks, having smaller classrooms for preschools with more teacher interaction (minimum staff-to-children ratio of 1:15 in preschool education) as well as expanding subsidized and low-cost access to regulated child-care services for younger children (and not only 5-6 year olds) are part of quality concerns when setting up pre-primary school systems (OECD, 2006). Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, and the Netherlands, train their teachers to take up service in either pre-primary (for 36-72 months of age) or primary school classes. This leads to a unity of goals and methodologies for the two sections, and reinforces pedagogical continuity. In France, common training for pre-primary and primary school teachers in teacher training and university institutes was introduced in 1993. The training contains courses on education studies, philosophy, sociology, psychology, subject study, administrative tasks, and optional subjects (Oberhuemer & Ulich, 1997). 26. The Government of Turkey has recognized the kindergarten year (60-72 months old). The cut-off need for more comprehensive ECE and the need point for determining these provinces was a GER for to ensure all students start school ready to learn. the 5-year-olds higher than 50 percent and the goal The MoNE has recently launched a program aimed was to achieve universal kindergarten enrollment in at fulfilling two targets by the start of the school year these provinces by the end of school year 2009/10.15 2014/15: a) universal enrollment for kindergarten MoNE chose to begin with these provinces because, (students aged 60-72 months old), and b) 50 percent on average, they did not need new infrastructure in enrollment rate for the pre-primary education level order to accommodate for all the new students in the as a whole (students aged 36-72 months old).14 The 5-year-old range. Thus, universal participation could program focused initially on achieving universal be achieved more easily and more quickly in these kindergarten in the 32 pilot provinces with the provinces than in others. Beyond these provinces, the highest gross enrollment rates (GERs) for the plan is to reach 100 percent coverage in an average 14 The targets for 4-year-olds (48 to 60 months old) and 3-year-olds (36 to 48 months old) are 25% and 11%, respectively. 15 Universal kindergarten was reached in 5 of the 32 provinces (Amasya, Ardahan, Burdur, Karaman, and Kütahya), but there was significant progress in the remaining 27. The average GER by the end of the 2009/10 school year for the 32 provinces was 92%, with a total of 31,310 more children enrolled in kindergarten compared to the previous years, just in those 32 provinces (a 31% improvement). Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 13 Table 2.2 – MoNE’s ECE Expansion Program, 2009/10 - 2013/14: Brief snapshot Numberof Numberofstudentstobeaddedtothesysteminorderto Schoolyear provinces meetMONE'sgoals targeted 5Ͳ yearͲolds 4ͲyearͲolds 3ͲyearͲolds Total 2009/10 32 41,875 7,513 8,560 57,949 2010/11 13 62,851 14,099 13,389 90,339 2011/12 12 88,157 21,165 11,732 121,055 2012/13 14 139,449 32,251 21,402 193,102 2013/14 10 240,540 58,169 31,728 330,437 572,872 133,196 86,812 792,881  Source: World Bank on the basis of information provided by MoNE. Note: The estimations assume that by the end of school year 2013/14, all 81 provinces have reached universal kindergarten and 50 percent coverage for the group of 3-5 years old. 12 provinces per year for the next four school years, the ECE expansion program attests, the resources expanding access last to areas with the lowest coverage allocated to programs that target young children and greatest needs. The magnitude of this expansion do not yet live up to the expectations set in these program is really sizeable (see Table 2.2). The goal is documents. According to World Bank (2009) to be able to place in the pre-primary system around estimations, Turkey’s children in the 0-6 year-old 800,000 new children. However, the configuration of group receive, on a per capita basis, up to 3 times the expansion scheme is such that it places an ever less educational spending than children of primary increasing pressure in the amount of resources that education age (See Figure 2.5). Also, Turkey lags would need to be put in place to absorb significant well behind the spending benchmark agreed for pre- yearly increases in the number of students as a result primary education of 1 percent of GDP on child care of leaving those provinces with the highest needs last. and pre-primary education services (UNICEF, 2008). According to Aran et al. (2009, p.5) “as of 2008, Turkey spends 0.02 percent of GDP on the 0-6 year 27. Although children feature prominently in the and 0.5 percent of GDP on the 0-8 year group for these government’s strategic development targets, as servicesâ€?. Figure 2.5 – Per Capita Social Public Expenditures by Age Group, 2008  Figure2.5–PerCapitaSocialPublicExpendituresbyAgeGroup,2008 2.5  Education SocialProtection 2.0  Health 1.5  TL in 2008 1.0  0.5  Ͳ 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 Age Group  Source: Source: World Bank (2009), World Figure Bank 22, (2009),Figure22,p.23 p.23 Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 14 C. Policy Options 28. Modify successive stages of MoNE’s roll-out 29. Develop a quality assurance framework for of the expansion of early childhood education to public and private provision of early childhood ensure that the Government’s goal of universal education. Expanding pre-school centers, schools access to kindergarten is met by 2014. In doing so, and kindergartens can be carried out more effectively changes are suggested in the targeting mechanism when a quality assurance framework is in place. This and the scope. The next phases of this program could is especially relevant in Turkey since the number of target the provinces with the lowest pre-primary gross responsible institutions for early childhood education enrollment rates first, and not the other way around, is high and inspection mechanisms are fragmented as per the current scheme. In addition, focusing public (Bekman & Gürlesel, 2005). For example, Australia has resources exclusively on the kindergarten year (for 60 recently introduced a new National Quality Framework to 72 months old children) would ensure that every that aims at improving staff-to-child ratios, setting child can start primary school with at least one year of new qualification requirements for early childhood pre-primary education. This will substantially reduce educators, creating a new quality rating system and the burden on the public resources that the sector establishing a national body to guide the implementation will need in the upcoming years. Such a proposal and management of the overall framework (Council of will require developing a fully-costed plan to expand Australian Governments, 2009). Another interesting coverage of the kindergarten year to the 81 provinces, example is Hong Kong where a two-pronged approach including needs for new and well-prepared teachers, to quality review based on internal school evaluations infrastructure (including new classrooms), appropriate and external school reviews was established in 2007 educational materials and plans for sequencing. Under (Poon, 2008). In Chile, as the country is working on this alternative proposal, the 50 percent coverage for reforming its education quality assurance system, it the pre-school years (children in the range of 36 to 60 has been clear that a strong implementation process months old) could best be achieved by a significant is just as important as a great design. A wide range of degree of cooperation between the public and the issues regarding the implementation of the proposed private sector, via not-for-profit or for-profit institutions changes to achieve the goal of setting up a functioning (Cleveland & Krashinsky, 2003; Grun, 2008). Actually, quality assurance system include, among others, the it would be critical to start considering public-private degree of independence between and coordination partnerships of this kind in Turkey since this appears of organizations that set education policies and to be the only realistic way to achieve the ambitious those that oversee how these policies translate into goals set by the Government also for the 3-to-4- classrooms and schools; the extent of consultation year-old group unless the Government can secure and participation by students, parents, teachers, school massive yearly increase in resources.16 The General principals, schools, and school owners; accountability Directorate of Private Education Institutions in MoNE mechanisms for public organizations to build an recently set as one of the key targets for the 2010-2014 institution’s legitimacy; strong leadership to inject a Strategic Plan to roughly double the number of private culture of change; gradual implementation along with institutions in basic education, currently at a meager public sector modernization; properly communicating 5% for primary and secondary education combined the benefits of the reform to the public and the (MoNE 2009b). Such an increase could help provide stakeholders making sure “the focus of education an important boost to the increase in early childhood quality assurance reforms is the studentâ€? message education coverage. is being transmitted; and full commitment from the 16 Aran et al. (2009, p.18) underline the limited role the private sector currently plays in pre-primary provision in Turkey: “As of 2007, only 6 percent of enrollments in 4-6 year old category in preschools are in private schools. Of the total number of preschool classes, 9.6 percent belong to private centers and of the teachers in ECD provision only 9.5 percent are hired by private providers. Most of the children enrolled in such private preschools are in the upper socio-economic groups and the cost of private preschools and day-care centers in Turkey is high and are only affordable by a select group of households in the country. Affordable day-care and preschool options are not available for mothers in poorer households, although there is a significant level of observed demand for such services. This demand is currently not being met by the private or public sectors and for existing services that serve the few, the costs are extremely high.â€? Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 15 national government and the Minister of Education campaign was initiated to raise awareness about the (World Bank, 2010). importance of early childhood education (0-6 yrs of age), to generate support for the issue from all levels 30. Expand the information campaigns about of society and to enable all children in Turkey to the importance of early childhood education. benefit from preschool education services through A multipronged approach using media, websites, bringing about the necessary policy changes. AÇEV local MONE branches, and community leaders with has been organizing increasingly frequent meetings, special emphasis on the most disadvantaged areas conferences, workshops and symposiums to continue of the country and most disadvantaged populations its awareness campaign on pre-primary education would be needed. An excellent example of a potential issues in Turkey as well as trying to influence policy partnership for such campaigns would be with The makers on its importance (AÇEV, 2009). Indeed, Mother Child Education Foundation (or AÇEV, in AÇEV has been partnering with MoNE for some its Turkish acronym). AÇEV, founded in 1993, is a time now and Mother-Child Education Program this non-governmental organization with vast experience institution developed continues to be used by MoNE in early childhood education that is dedicated to today. Therefore, using AÇEV’s good reputation and reaching those who have limited access to educational MoNE’s convening power could be a positive starting and economic resources by using a wide range of point for massive nationwide campaigns that help activities, such as the “7 is too lateâ€? campaign. This increase awareness and raise the profile of ECE. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 16 Chapter III: Teachers A. Background 31. Teachers are the single most important school input to the educational system, but also as part of the variable influencing student achievement (Hattie, process that generates student learning (Figure 3.1). 2003). Having effective teachers can substantially Teachers’ qualifications and characteristics are critical close the achievement gap between low-income and input factors: the type of education and certification high-income students, and low-performing students (credentials), the teachers’ proven knowledge in a benefit more from more effective teachers. Rockoff given area of expertise (often measured by test scores), (2004), who followed the same group of teachers his/her experience in the field (usually measured by over a 10-year period, estimated that differences the number of years he/she has been working as a in the quality of teachers explain up to 23 percent teacher and the type of work done) and, last but not of the variation in student performance. In a review least, teachers’ personality traits are all essential of more than 500,000 studies on factors affecting ingredients of the educational system. The quality of student performance, Hattie (2003) reaches a similar teachers, however, also relies heavily on their teaching conclusion: teachers are the most important factor in practices. In other words, teachers’ degree of planning, control of the school system and account for about 25 instructional delivery, classroom management, and percent of the variance in student achievement. interactions with students play a fundamental role in learning achievement. Teacher effectiveness is then 32. Improving teacher quality will therefore usually defined as the capacity of a given teacher to lead to substantial gains in student performance lead their students to sustained achievement gains.18 (Hanushek, 2008).17 In fact, as Goe (2007) shows, Box 3.1 presents an example of the types of effective teacher quality works through two channels, both as an teachers that are able to achieve such gains.19 Figure 3.1 – A framework for understanding how teacher quality works Teacher Qualifications Processes Education,certification, credentials,teachertestscores, andexperience. Teacher Practices (TeachingQuality) Inputs Practicesbothinandoutof theclassroom  (impactedbyschoolandclassroom context): Teacher Characteristics planning,instructionaldelivery,classroom  Attitudes,attributes,beliefs, management,interactionswithstudents. self Ͳ efficacy,race,gender Teacher Quality Student Achievement Test Scores Outcomes Teacher Effectiveness Student Achievement (predicted)– EmpiricallydefinedusingvalueͲadded Student Achievement (actual) =  measures,teachersareranked byhow much StudentGainScore studentsgained comparedto how muchtheywerepredicted to gain inachievement.  Source: Goe (2007), Fig.1, p.9 17 Hanushek (2010) estimates that the economic value of improving teacher quality could be highly significant. A teacher which is one standard deviation above the mean effectiveness for teachers in the United States could generate marginal annual gains of over $400,000 in the present value of student future earnings. 18 The most widely used variable for measuring student achievement is the scores students obtain in given tests. Statistical models can then be used for predicting students’ achievement given students’ background and teachers’ characteristics and qualifications. Achievement gains are then measured as the difference between the actual test scores and those predicted by the statistical models. 19 On what characteristics make an effective teacher, see the recent paper by Lavy (2011). Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 17 Box 3.1 - What Makes a Good Teacher? Teach for America, a nonprofit that recruits college graduates to teach in low-income schools, has developed its views on what makes a good teacher based on the extensive experience they have acquired over the years in America. They claim that more than any other variable in education—more than schools or curriculum—teachers matter (Ripley, 2010). Great teachers tend to set big goals for their students. They are also perpetually looking for ways to improve their effectiveness. They constantly reevaluate what they are doing and they avidly involve students and their families in the teaching process; they maintain focus, ensuring that everything they do contributes to student learning; they plan exhaustively and purposefully—for the next day or the year ahead—by working backward from the desired outcome; and they work relentlessly. Innovative and fun ways of teaching – group work, learning games, and understanding what students are stimulated by - are very important in this framework (Farr, 2010). 33. Teachers’ importance is also reflected in the B. What is the status of size of the teacher workforce in a given country. teachers in Turkey? Teachers usually constitute a large part of the public workforce and, on average, roughly two-thirds of educational expenditures by schools is allocated 34. Turkey is a fairly unique country within the to teachers’ compensation (OECD, 2005). Teacher context of OECD countries in that it has a sizeable policies can therefore have enormous implications for school-age population that has been increasing for school budgets. A critical issue for countries to sustain some time and will continue to grow in the near an education system that is internationally competitive future. Turkey’s student population comprises, as relies then on how to recruit, retain, develop and of 2010/11, more than 12 million children, roughly maintain a high-quality teaching force (OECD, 2005). 11 million in primary education and slightly more The demand for, supply and quality of teachers are, as a than 1 million in pre-primary education. More than result, significant points of concern for many countries 137,000 new children per year have entered the (Santiago, 2002; Schacter & Thum, 2004). To increase system, at different levels of education, since 2000/01, the quality of education and teaching, schools need to a remarkable feat for a developing country that has attract good teachers, select the best from all teaching worked hard to ensure universal coverage of primary candidates, and retain the particularly effective ones. education and is now pursuing the goal of universal coverage of the kindergarten year by 2014. Knowing which teachers schools want to hire and why as well as which ones leave schools can help policy makers achieve more optimal selection and retention 35. These significant pressures in the demand for policies (Boyd et al., 2010, Goldhaber et al., 2009; schooling in Turkey constitute a formidable challenge Hanushek, 2009). for the educational system of the country insofar as Figure 3.2 – Teacher Workforce in Turkey: Changes in the Last Decade 2000/01-2010/11 551,658 503,328 500,000 400,000 361,704 345,141 300,000 200,000 100,000 48,330 16,563 0 2000/2001 2010/2011 PreͲ PrimaryEducation PrimaryEducation TotalBasicEducation  Source: World Bank on the basis of MoNE (2011) Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 18 the demand for teachers is continually increasing. like country. According to the results of OECD’s In the last decade alone, Turkey’s teaching workforce Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) for basic education (primary and pre-primary levels) 200922, roughly 50 percent of Turkish teachers are less expanded by roughly 50 percent and is now employing than 30 years old, whereas the average proportion of more than 550,000 teachers (see Figure 3.2). Every teachers that are less than 30 years old for OECD-like year, at least an additional 19,000 new teachers are countries is barely higher than 15 percent (see Table needed to be recruited to accommodate increasing A5 in the Annex)23. In addition, whereas almost 70 enrollment. Keeping up with these trends, however, percent of Turkish teachers have less than 10 years places an important burden on the country both in of work experience, the corresponding proportion terms of quantity and quality. In regards to the former, for the average OECD-like country is 37.5 percent. because strong differences exist in student-teacher The overwhelming majority of Turkish teachers (88 ratios across the country, it is urgent to increase percent) hold a Bachelor’s degree and only 5.8 percent hiring to start leveling the playing field, especially in have obtained either a Master’s or a Doctoral degree; the poorest districts of the country.20 As to the latter, in comparison, the average proportion of teachers increasing pressures on the demand for teachers has with degrees from graduate schools for TALIS’s usually resulted in a lower average quality of the participating countries is 31.6 percent. Finally, incoming cohort.21 TALIS 2009 results show that Turkish teachers, when compared with their TALIS counterparts, tend to suffer 36. As a result of this increasing demand for teachers from a lack of pedagogical preparation. They also in the country, Turkey’s teachers tend to be, on tend to arrive late to work twice more often than the average, much younger, much less experienced and average OECD teacher and also present larger rates of of much lower quality than the average OECD- absenteeism (see Figure 3.3).24 Figure 3.3 - Teachers’ Issues Hindering Instruction and Learning 50 Turkey OECD 40 30 % 20 10 0 LackofPedagogical ArrivingLate Absenteeism Preparation  Source: World Bank on the basis of MoNE (2011) 20 Çıngı et al. (2007) estimate the number of new teachers that should be hired to bring all districts whose student-teacher ratios are higher than the national average to this national mean: their estimates show that roughly 65,000 additional teachers would be needed for primary schools alone. See Çıngı et al. (2007), Table 51, p.227. 21 Özden (2004) state that lowering the admission standards for placement into teacher training schools has been used as a short-term measure directed to mitigate teacher demand pressures on the system. Other recent measures that were utilized to cope with these increasing demands have also entailed the hiring of less-than-qualified substitute teachers. 22 TALIS is the first international survey to focus on the learning environment and the working conditions of teachers in schools and it offers an opportunity for teachers and principals to give their input into education analysis and policy development in some key policy areas. The first TALIS survey has been conducted in 24 countries across four continents in 2009. See OECD (2009a). 23 Note that we refer above to OECD-like countries and not OECD countries. The reason for this distinction is given by the fact that 7 out of the 24 countries participating in TALIS 2009 are not members of the OECD countries. However, with the exception of Brazil and Malaysia, the remaining 5 (Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Malta, and Slovenia) are Eastern European countries, some of which are already part of the European Union. For the whole list of participating countries, see OECD (2009a), Figure 1.1, p.18. 24 Specifically, 43 percent of Turkish teachers are in schools where the principal reports that lack of pedagogical preparation is a factor hindering instruction a lot or to some extent (TALIS av. = 24 percent); 31 percent of teachers are in schools where the principal reports that teachers arriving late hinders instruction a lot or to some extent (TALIS av. = 15 percent); and 35 percent of teachers are in schools where absenteeism is reported by principals as hindering instruction a lot or to some extent (TALIS av. = 26 percent). See OECD (2009a). Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 19 37. The low quality of teachers is in part related preparation for the teacher civil service examination, to the lack of a strong professional approach to the next step in the ladder to becoming a teacher (Åžahin, teaching careers in Turkey. This is the result of a 2005)25. But also in-service training in Turkey seems combination of poor pre-service training, lack of to be insufficient: every year, about 20,000 teachers access to learning resources while teaching, and the get trained out of a total pool of about 600,000. This lack of professional development opportunities to means that the average Turkish teacher gets in-service improve the quality of their interactive teaching skills. training only once in his/her lifetime as a teacher. Very few university education faculties offer active As a result of all these factors, Turkish teachers are programs designed to develop the kind of skills that not equipped enough to engage students’ interest and teachers need to work with students in an engaging, enthusiasm, teach interactively, or offer stimulating transformative fashion. In some instances, the pre- learning experiences that help students construct their service curriculum is known to focus too much on test own knowledge and skills. Box 3.2 – Teacher Education in Turkey: Should the Connection Between the Ministry of National Education and the Higher Education Council Be Improved? The institutions responsible for teachers’ education and training in Turkey are the Higher Education Council (YÖK, in its Turkish acronym) and the Ministry of National Education (MoNE). Whereas YÖK is in charge of the pre- service training or education, MoNE is in charge of the in-service training process, after students from the Schools of Education get their teachers’ degree and start their careers. As with all secondary-school students, teacher candidates for university are principally selected via the high-stakes university entrance exam. After selection for university, teacher education is divided into two stages: pre-service teacher training and in-service teacher training. All primary (and some secondary) school teacher candidates are required to complete a 4-year program at a faculty of education. As of 2010, there are 154 universities in Turkey, 65 of which have Schools of Education, many of which were created very recently to cope with the increasing demand and are, therefore, of widely varying quality. Since 1998, all schools of education in Turkey have been following a standardized curriculum prescribed by the YÖK. Secondary school teachers are trained either in a 5-year undergraduate program or, for graduates of a 4-year non-education faculty, in a Masters’ of Science degree program, both in education faculties. Schools of Education are not the only institutions where teachers’ degrees can be obtained. Science Schools’ students who complete pedagogical course requirements (within the scope of a Postgraduate Certificate in Education) after having obtained a bachelor’s degree in their fields are also eligible to apply for a teaching position. The length of each teacher training program, the number of credits, the titles of courses, and the qualification the program leads to are all defined by YÖK. Upon graduation from a university program, candidates are eligible to enter the profession after passing the civil service exam (KPSS, in its Turkish acronym). The distribution of topics on this examination, their relative weight, the multiple choice format, and the assessment of results are all the responsibility of the Student Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM, in its Turkish acronym). The score that students receive on the KPSS determines whether or not they are assigned to their preferred location. MoNE, the employer of the overwhelming majority of teachers in the country, has neither authority nor influence over any of these critical gateways into the profession. In addition, there are few linkages and little structured dialogue and planning related to teacher recruitment and development among YÖK, ÖSYM and MoNE. Source: Aksu et al., 2010; World Bank, 2005b; General Directorate of Higher Education of MoNE 25 This is starting to change, little by little. Garanti Bank, a leading bank in Turkey, has launched in 2008 a long-range project called “No Limits in Teachingâ€?, under a five-year agreement with the Teacher Academy Foundation (Öğretmen Akademisi Vakfi, or ORAV) and MoNE, to organize activities aimed at fostering the personal and professional development of teachers. Having started in May 2009, 10,000 teachers in 272 schools across 32 cities have been reached so far. Participation in the project, which is voluntary and free of charge, is open to all primary school teachers, administrative personnel, and inspectors. At the trainings which are organized at the teachers’ own schools, main topics of “communicationâ€?, “classroom managementâ€? and “evaluationâ€? are covered. Those who take part in the program also receive ministry-approved certification. Moreover, participants continue their personal and professional development with an Internet website subscription. For further details, see http://www.garanti.com.tr/en/our_company/social_responsibility/projects_on_ education/teacher_academy_foundation.page. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 20 38. The lack of a strong professional approach to average Turkish teacher with equivalent longevity at the teaching profession in Turkey makes it hard to work. On the other hand, teacher salaries in Turkey recruit, retain, develop and maintain a high-quality are comparable with the average OECD country when teaching force. Teaching disproportionately attracts salaries are measured as a proportion of per capita people from lower and middle income backgrounds GDP. The average salary for a Turkish primary school (Aksu et al., 2010). The low socio-economic status teacher, after 15 years of work experience, is 3 percent of teachers prevents highly qualified students from higher than its OECD counterpart, when salaries are preferring the teaching profession, but also engenders measured relative to the level of income of the average big challenges for those that do get into the profession citizen (See Table 3.1 below and Table A8 in the in the sense that, precisely due to their low economic Annex). and socio-cultural backgrounds, new teachers have a hard time understanding or adapting to new approaches 40. The Turkish government has recognized the (Gürkaynak et al., 2003). According to the results of importance of teachers and has been working hard a teacher survey conducted by the Turkish Education on reforming the pre-service and in-service teacher Personnel Union in 2009, 93.1 percent of the teachers training system since the late 1990s. In 1997, the stated that the profession of teaching was losing its Education Faculties in universities underwent a prestige and 57.6 percent were not pleased with the series of reforms through which a Teacher Training working environment.26 Deniz and Åžahin (2006) National Committee was established to ensure state that Turkish teachers lack the professional skills control, continuation and updating of teacher training and knowledge to cope with the educational goals programs; the number and credit of formation courses of today’s society, have low status, heavy demands was increased; and training of branch teachers for on time, heavy workload, and a generalized lack of upper secondary education was rearranged by means opportunities to improve their professional knowledge of graduate studies differing from the former practice and effective performance.27 enclosing overall 4-year education. The third large scale reform was introduced in 2006-2007 to revise 39. An important question to analyze is whether the non-functioning parts of the 1997 arrangements the low quality of teachers in Turkey is related to such as re-introduction of general knowledge courses pay conditions. The answer is not straightforward: that were mostly eliminated from the curriculum in whereas teacher salaries seem to be low relative to 1997, and the transfer of 25 percent of the authority the OECD average under some indicators, other to determine the curriculum to education faculties indicators show a less disadvantaged picture (OECD themselves. The last reform came in 2009 with the 2009a). On the one hand, the absolute level of teacher abolition of the graduate school requirement for upper salaries in Turkey seems to be lower than in the OECD, secondary education teacher candidates starting in regardless of whether we measure them in absolute the 2010-2011 school year. Instead, of those students terms or per hour of net contact (teaching) time. In enrolling in the Faculties of Arts and Science, the both cases the average Turkish teacher gets roughly 50 ones who complete pedagogical course requirements percent less than its typical OECD counterpart. Things in the faculties of education after having obtained a get even worse as teachers become more experienced bachelor’s degree in their fields of study are eligible to due to the high compression of the salary scale in apply for a secondary teaching position (MoNE, 2008; Turkey’s wage grid: after 15 years of experience the ÖSYM 2009; ÖYGM, 2009; ÖzoÄŸlu, 2010; YÖK, average OECD teacher gets 3 times as much as the 2007). 26 See http://www.umut.org.tr/en/sayilarla.aspx?id=19800, accessed June 15, 2010. 27 TALIS 2009 results show that less than one in ten teachers in Turkey received feedback in their school and fewer than 2 percent of teachers are in schools that had no evaluation (external or internal) in the last 5 years. Also, of those teachers receiving appraisal/feedback, only about 40 percent reported that it resulted in a development plan to improve their teaching. For further results on teachers’ perception of their key professional development needs and the type of professional development they receive, see Tables A6 and A7 in the Annex. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 21 Table 3.1 - Analyzing Various Dimensions of the Teaching Profession in Primary Schools: Turkey vs. OECD, 2007 Ratio Ratio Ratio (Turkey (Turkey Turkey OECDAv. OECDMax. OECDMin. (Turkey /OECD /OECD /OECD Av.) Max.) Min.) Annual WorkingHours 1,832 1,662 1,960 1,265 1.10 0.93 1.45 (Japan) (U.K.) Average classsize (Public 27.5 21.4 31.0 15.6 1.29 0.89 1.76 Schools) (Korea) (Luxembourg) StudentͲteacherratio 26.2 16.0 28.0 10.1 1.64 0.94 2.59 (Mexico) (Greece) Startingsalary/minimum 14,063 28,687 49,902 11,216 0.49 0.28 1.25 training* (Luxembourg) (Hungary) Salaryattopof 17,515 47,747 101,707 17,515 0.37 0.17 1.00 scale/minimumtraining* (Luxembourg) (Turkey) Ratioofsalaryattopof scale to 1.25 1.71 2.77 1.13 0.73 0.45 1.11 startingsalary* (Korea) (Denmark) Ratioofsalaryafter15 yearsofexperience to 1.21 1.17 2.21 0.68 1.03 0.55 1.78 GDPpercapita* (Korea) (Norway) Salaryperteachinghour after15yearsof 25 49 89 23 0.51 0.28 1.09 experience* (Luxembourg) (Mexico) *In equiva l entUSD converted us i ng Purcha s i ng PowerPa ri tyMea s ures  Source: World Bank on the basis of information provided by MoNE. Note: The estimations assume that by the end of school year 2013/14, all 81 provinces have reached universal kindergarten and 50 percent coverage for the group of 3-5 years old. C. Policy Options 41. Support and hold accountable new teachers This support in the first few years needs to be in the first few years of teaching. New teachers accompanied by a significant degree of in-service need support and learning on the job as they strugg- training. Educational policymakers around the le with classroom management, assessing student world have begun to see teaching careers in terms work, motivating students to learn, interacting with of lifelong learning, in which experienced teachers colleagues, and communicating with parents, espe- attend ongoing professional development programs. cially as new teachers are often placed in the most- In Korea, for example, teachers in their third year difficult-to-serve locations (OECD, 2011a). One must complete a formal four-week training program. approach is to build performance measures into the Other countries, such as England, Singapore, and system from the first year where new teachers nee- the Netherlands, grant teachers paid leave to have ding more support have an apprenticeship year with them participate in professional development extra help. For all new teachers, increased responsi- activities (Wang et al., 2003). Finally, a clear, well bilities in years two and three are based on perfor- structured and widely supported teacher profile can mance as is ultimate tenure (Schwartz et al., 2010).28 be a powerful mechanism for aligning the elements 28 Such a system needs to be developed along with a parallel system of teacher evaluation. Isoré (2009) documents the current practices in OECD countries in relation to teacher evaluation. The author presents examples on how different systems of teacher evaluation work and what their motives are. For example, whereas the US system seems to develop a teacher evaluation for summative purposes with clear links to pay, the Finnish and English systems rely more on teacher evaluations for formative purposes within broader school policies. The Chilean system seems to take a comprehensive stance where both approaches are integrated. See pp.33.37. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 22 involved in developing teachers’ knowledge and skills, started in schools as paraprofessionals or teachers’ and for providing a means of assessing whether teac- aides to gain full qualifications that build on their her development programs are making a difference. experience in schools and possibilities for mid- Developing new teacher profiles, matching assign- career changes to combine reduced teaching loads ments to skills, providing a sense of leadership, voca- and concurrent participation in teacher preparation tion and teamwork can help align teacher development programs. and performance with school needs (ÇakıroÄŸlu & Ça- kıroÄŸlu, 2003). 43. Improve teacher training, aligning in-service with pre-service training, and establish school- 42. Create new incentives — monetary and non- based teacher training strategies. The process of monetary — to attract and retain high-quality teacher formation involves the areas of pre-service teachers (OECD, 2011a; OECD, 2011b). Creating training, induction and in-service training. For a stronger connection between teachers’ contributi- starters, pre-service teacher training in Turkey needs ons and the pay and other rewards they receive will to be rationalized and realigned to reflect changed be central in redesigning teaching for the next gene- instruction requirements, and should include greater ration (OECD, 2005). To help make teaching a more communication among MoNE, YÖK, ÖSYM and attractive career choice, many countries, such as Swit- the universities (see Box 3.2). Similarly, the re- zerland, Japan and the US are creating new roles and organization of in-service training, including revisions of the curriculum of faculties of education, particularly responsibilities for teachers that reward their expertise courses for the teaching profession, should be based without taking them out of the classroom (Schwartz on the findings of research, related literature and et al., 2010). Other options could include the support expert opinions. Many Turkish teachers consider good for deployment schemes to place the best teachers in teaching to be drill and practice, especially with respect the most disadvantaged areas (Farr, 2010), as well to materials tested by the SBS, YGS, and LYS exams. as attempting to reward excellent performance by These expectations leave teachers little room to use using performance-based pay bonuses (Neal, 2011; innovative, student-centered teaching methods (Åžahin, Sclafani & Lim, 2008). Singapore, for example has 2005). Therefore, a greater emphasis on knowledge- a highly developed career system to recognize, sup- centered academic learning should become the focal port and reward outstanding classroom teachers with point of school curricula. Teacher education and the a performance-based pay plan in place for about a de- teaching career should also be regarded within a new cade. More recently, the government has created three paradigm for lifelong learning (Coolahan, 2002). In this career tracks for teachers: a leadership track, a speci- new paradigm, school-based teacher training schemes alist track and a teaching track. The “teaching trackâ€? become critical. One such scheme is the creation of a caters to the majority of educators, who want to focus “peer-to-peer feedback networkâ€? (Kirabo Jackson & on achieving excellence in the classroom. Within that Bruegmann, 2009). Such collaborative partnerships track, teachers can move up from a “senior teacherâ€? to between teachers have proven highly effective tools in a “master teacherâ€? with their pay rising to reflect both some developed countries like Japan and parts of the their expertise and additional responsibilities. The US United States (Bayrakçı, 2009). Another interesting also has promising ingredients for the development of a initiative is that of “lead teachersâ€?. For example, full-fledged teacher career and compensation system.29 Canada’s Literacy and Numeracy Strategy - a major Also, a series of complementary non-monetary initia- initiative designed to have all students read, write, tives could be a powerful attracting mechanism. One do math, and comprehend at a high level by age 12 - of them, for example, consists in introducing a more provides intensive training to teachers in how to teach flexible system of teacher education that would pro- literacy and numeracy effectively and has increased vide more routes into the profession, including post- the number of “lead teachersâ€? in the primary grades graduate study following an initial qualification on who share best practices with other teachers in their a subject matter field, opportunities for those who schools (OECD, 2005). 29 Nearly 50,000 US teachers have earned recognition from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, a voluntary assessment program that certifies accomplished teachers who have met professional standards. A growing number of states and districts are also experimenting with paying teachers based on their performance. See Schwartz et al. (2010). Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 23 Chapter IV - Financing A. Background shows that educational expenditures in OECD countries, including Turkey, have been increasing rapidly in recent times, outpacing the growth in the 44. Education is one of the most profitable GDP per capita (Field et al., 2007; Levin, 2003, see investments from both an individual and a societal also Tables A9 and A10 in the Annex). With regards point of view. For an individual, the economic benefits to how efficiently resources are used in the sector, of education come from increased earnings with each OECD (2009e) reaches one important conclusion: new level of education attained and lower rates of although there is a positive relationship between unemployment (OECD, 2009e). For a society, the educational spending and student performance, this higher the education of its population usually results in relationship is not as strong as it would be expected a larger collection of tax receipts, as well as improved and only explains 15 percent of the variation in mean health and political stability, among others (McMahon performance between countries. 2004, 2006). B. What is the status of 45. Financing public education, however, is a tricky area since a lot of questions need to be answered financing in Turkey? and a series of trade-offs need to be resolved. These issues range from the national strategic discussion of 48. Turkey’s expenditure on public education in the what proportion of the national income needs to be last decade (2000-2009) has been steadily increasing invested in the sector to whether or not to subsidize in nominal terms and generally increasing relative a particular level of education or a particular set of to Turkey’s GDP. It went from about 2.6 percent of providers. GDP in 2000 to about 3.8 percent in 2011 (MoNE, 2010). This rate of expenditure is, however, still 46. Analyzing the quality of the financing of edu- well below the average OECD country, which tends cation is an even harder undertaking, and usually to invest around 6 percent of its GDP. However, boils down to assessing a series of “howâ€? questions in line with what happened with other countries in in terms of two domains: efficiency and equity. the OECD, Turkey did follow the same trends with In regards to the former, analyzing how efficiently regards to: a) education expenditure outpacing GDP educational funds are spent involves comparing growth (by about 25 percent in the period 2000-2011); inputs and outputs of the system. Although there is and b) public education expenditure increasing as no simple relationship between these two dimensions, a proportion of the total consolidated budget of the this is usually undertaken between measures of relative public sector (from 9.4 percent in 2000 to 14.6 percent spending (as a proportion of the national income, in the year 2011). on per capita terms, etc.) and indicators of student performance (either of attainment or achievement 49. Expenditure on education in Turkey seems to nature). As for the latter, evaluating how equitably be relatively efficient, when we compare the amount distributed financial resources for education are of public expenditure in education, as a percentage usually means that the emphasis is placed within an of the GDP, and the results from international “equal-opportunitiesâ€? framework, like whether public assessments. Figure 4.1 shows Turkey’s 15-year- financing is equivalent on a per student basis across old skills lie exactly on the line that best fits OECD different regions of the country and what mechanisms countries’ public expenditure on education and Math are put in place to ensure equivalency. test scores in PISA 2006.30 47. The latest international evidence on both the 50. Looking only at Turkey’s public expenditure on trends and the quality of educational spending education could be misleading, however, since the 30 The analysis undertaken from here onwards is made on the basis of year 2006, the last year for which comparable cross-country information on both international assessments of learning outcomes and educational expenditure (private and public) existed. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 24 country is characterized by a very large proportion Table 4.1 - Private expenditure on education in OECD of expenditures covered by private expenditures. countries (percent of GDP) Chawla et al. (2005) calculated the proportion of private education funding to total education funding to Private be of around 36 percent, based on a national-accounts Country expenditureon education(%of approach to estimates from the 1994 Household Income GDP) and Consumption Expenditure Survey (HICES). Korea 2.9 Unfortunately, no later study has been able to determine UnitedStates 2.4 the proportion of private funding for education as a Canada 1.7 percentage of total funding for education in Turkey. If Japan 1.7 we assumed that this proportion did not change much Turkey 1.6 since 1994, Turkey would rank, as of 2006, as the Australia 1.6 fifth largest private investor in education of all OECD NewZealand 1.3 countries - only surpassed by Korea, USA, Canada, Mexico 1.1 and Japan – in terms of the proportion of the GDP to Iceland 0.8 fund education from non-public sources (Table 4.1). Netherlands 0.8 Turkey’s families devote twice as much as the average UnitedKingdom 0.7 OECD family for educating their children, relative to Germany 0.7 their income. Roughly two-thirds of that investment SlovakRepublic 0.6 goes to primary and secondary education, despite the Denmark 0.6 fact that more than 95 percent of all pre-university CzechRepublic 0.6 educational institutions (pre-primary, primary and Poland 0.5 secondary) are public and fee-free. Hungary 0.5 Spain 0.5 51. Therefore, when the educational investment Portugal 0.4 that is spent by households as a percentage of their France 0.4 incomes is factored in, Turkey’s efficiency of total Austria 0.4 educational expenditure is largely in question (See Italy 0.3 Figure 4.2). This does not seem to be just an artifact of Ireland 0.3 the different total (public + private) expenditure levels Belgium 0.2 of the potential countries involved. For example, Sweden 0.2 Hungary and Turkey devote fairly similar total amounts Finland 0.1 OECD average 0.8 of per student expenditure for secondary education –  roughly 4,000 US dollars of similar purchase power Source: OECD (2009d), Table B2.4, p.221 for all countries parity (PPP), see Table A11 in the Annex – and yet except Turkey, where estimates were calculated by the authors Turkey’s 15-year-olds are roughly 2 school years using the estimates drawn from World Bank (2005b), p.30. behind Hungary’s counterparts in math skills. Note: Estimates for all countries are for year 2006. Figure 4.1 - Public Expenditure on Education and Learning Outcomes in OECD Countries, 2006 560 FIN KOR 540 NLD CHE CAN JPN 520 AUS CZE BEL NZL DNK AUT PISA 2006 Math Scores 500 IRL DEU SWE POL GBR, FRA R² = 0.2648ISL SVK NOR OECD 480 HUN ESP PRT USA 460 ITA 440 420 TUR MEX 400 2.5 3.5 4.5 5.5 6.5 7.5 Public Expenditure on Education (% of GDP, 2006) Source: World Bank on the basis of MoNE (2011) PIS 440 420 TUR MEX 400 Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges 4.7 Options And 4.2 5.2 5.7 6.2 6.7 7.2 7.7 25 Total expenditure on education (public + private) as % of GDP, 2006 Figure 4.2 - Total Expenditure on Education and Learning Outcomes in OECD Countries, 2006 560 560 FIN KOR Biçimlendirilmiú: Ya FIN KOR 540 CAN denetimi yap NLD NZL 540 CAN 520 JPN AUS NLD NZL CZE BEL DNK 520 JPN OECD AUS AUT CZE BEL DEU SWE DNK PISA 500 FRA, GBR AUT OECD IRL R² = 0.0841 ISL 2006 PISA 2006 Math Scores 500 DEU SWE POL FRA, GBR R² = 0.0841 Math IRL ISL HUN POL Scores 480 SVK SPA SVK HUN USA 480 SPA USA PRT PRT 460 ITA 460 ITA 440 440 TUR 420 TUR 420 MEX MEX 400 400 4.2 4.7 5.2 5.7 6.2 6.7 7.2 7.7 4.2 4.7 5.2 5.7 6.2 6.7 7.2 7.7 Total expenditure on education (public + private) as % of GDP, 2006 Total expenditure on education (public + private) as % of GDP, 2006 Source: World Bank on the basis of OECD (2007a) and OECD (2009d) Biçimlendirilmiú: Ya 560 52. Turkey’s reliance on FIN private financing KOR also income, according to estimates by the largest union denetimi yap presents 540 serious obstacles NLD to equity NZL CAN (ERI, 2009a; of private tutoring workers in Turkey, ÖZDEBIR.33 ERI, 2009b). 520 The CZE distribution JPN AUS BEL of private expenditures Having surpassed the million-student population DNK for PISA education 500 is very DEU unequal AUT OECD FRA, GBR across SWE different levels of already, the private tutoring industry has become a R² = 0.0841 income. Duygan and Güner (2006) calculate that the true “parallel system of educationâ€?. As of 2010/11, 2006 IRL ISL POL Math SVK HUN Scores educational expenditure per child is very similar for the number of dershanes was almost identical to the 480 SPA USA PRT the lowest (1 ) and second lowest (2 ) quintiles of the 460 st ITA nd total number of general secondary education (GSE) distribution 440 of income, but is almost 3 times higher for schools. the middle 420 quintile (3rd), 4.2 TUR times higher for the second highest quintile (4 ) and almost th 14 times higher for the MEX 54. The combination of high-stakes entrance top quintile 400 (5 ). th 31 4.2 4.7 5.2 5.7 6.2 6.7 7.2 7.7 exams for secondary and higher education and a Total expenditure on education (public + private) as % of GDP, 2006 disproportionately vast network of dershanes in 53. A sizeable portion of private funding goes to Turkey combine to raise serious questions about the private tutoring system. This system was born the distribution of opportunities and the levels of as a student-driven response to the institutionalization intergenerational mobility in Turkey (Gürün & of two high-stakes national exams and has developed Millimet, 2008; Tansel & Bircan, 2006). To start with, since into one of the biggest industries in the Turkish attending a dershane is highly positively correlated economy (see Box 4.1). The bulk of the private with the socio-economic status of the households tutoring system takes the form of private tutoring where the student lives (Tansel & Bircan, 2005). centers, known as dershanes, and their annual cost per Even more important is that attending a dershane student can range anywhere from 400 to up to 10,000 increases the chances of entering university, but only US dollars.32 The private tutoring industry gives if a relatively high amount of money - approximately formal employment to more than 50,000 teachers and 1,250 US dollars per year - is spent on private tutoring generates nearly 1 billion US dollars per year in gross (Gürün & Millimet, 2008).34 In other words, private 31 See Duygan and Güner (2006), Table 3.12, p.81. 32 Two other forms of private tutoring are used in Turkey. The first one is also a private sector initiative and takes the form of individualized or one-to-one teaching. The second form is a public sector initiative led by MoNE by which private tutoring is offered as a fee-based after-school course offered by mainstream teachers. Whereas the former variant is, by far, the most expensive version of private tutoring, with costs ranging anywhere from 60 to up to 140 US dollars, as anecdotal evidence suggests, the latter variant is the cheapest: fees are in the range of 1-2 US dollars per hour, depending on the location (Tansel & Bircan, 2008, p.12). 33 See Tansel and Bircan (2008), p.28. ÖZDEBIR is the Turkish acronym for the Association of Private Tutoring Centers (Özel Dershaneler BirliÄŸi DerneÄŸi), which counts 500 members operating a network of about 800 PTCs (Tansel & Bircan, 2008, p.14). 34 Gürün & Millimet (2008) find that the use of private tutoring is positively associated with university placement but only because there is a strong selection bias effect into tutoring. When correcting for even a modest degree of self-selection, there seems to be a negative effect of private tutoring spending on the probabilities of university placement, except when spending goes beyond the $1,275 US dollars a year. This number represents, roughly, about 15 percent of Turkey’s GDP per capita, according to the World Economic Outlook Database of the International Monetary Fund (available at http://www.imf.org/external/ pubs/ft/weo/2009/02/weodata/index.aspx, accessed on March 1, 2010). Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 26 tutoring can really pay off if you have enough money fully financed by the private sector, appear to perpetuate to spend; otherwise, it seems to be a waste of resources any existing inequalities in the distribution of income. for the most part. And households may spend anywhere These early-tracking systems have been shown to from 1 percent to 15 percent of their incomes, on not only increase educational inequality, but also to average (Tansel & Bircan, 2006). In a nutshell, access reduce average educational performance (Hanushek & to high-quality education in Turkey seems to be highly Wößmann, 2006).And even on other life domains, like correlated with socio-economic background, but the public health, high-stakes exams appear to be a major very foundations of the education system, epitomized problem with significant repercussions, for example, by both the entrance examinations for secondary and in terms of high rates of depression (Yıldırım et al., higher education and a “parallel system of educationâ€? 2007).35 Box 4.1 - The birth and rise of the system of private tutoring in Turkey The centralized system for admission of students into higher education institutions (HEIs) started in the year 1964- 65, with the institutionalization of the mandatory University Entrance Examination, known as ÖSS (Öğrenci Seçme Sınavı). This policy measure was thought as a way to deal with the explosion in the demand for Table 4.2 - Trends in Dershanes, Applicants for the University Entrance Examination and Students Placed in Higher Education Institutions higher education in the country and established Applicants Students a merit-based system that could ensure, first, finally Ratio Students forthe placedon applicants the selection of the best-performing secondary Years Dershanes Teachers University (thousands) Entrance higher /placed education graduates into the existing set of education (%) Examination institutions universities, and second, that the best among 1975Ͳ76 157 45.6 1,384 280,504 40,468 14.4 the selected could choose the career of their 1980Ͳ81 174 101.7 3,826 466,963 41,574 8.9 choices with priority over the rest. 1990Ͳ91 762 188.4 8,723 892,975 196,253 22.0 1995Ͳ96 1,292 334.3 10,941 1,265,103 383,974 With a continuously growing population of 30.4 2000Ͳ01 1,920 556.3 17,300 1,414,872 414,647 applicants for HEIs and a somewhat fixed 29.3 2005Ͳ06 3,986 1,071.8 47,621 1,730,876 607,994 35.1 number of annual vacancies in HEIs, the 2010Ͳ11 4,099 1,234.7 50,209 1,587,993 874,375 55.1 competition for entrance into universities Annual cumulative 9.7 9.4 10.6 5.3 8.0 2.6 became increasingly harder and created the growthrate(%)  right incentives for the first wave of Private Source: World Bank based on data from Tansel and Bircan (2008), Table 1, p.32; Tutoring Centers (or dershanes) which, just MoNE (2011), Table 1.16, p. 35; and from ÖSYM (2011), Table 1, p.11. a decade after the introduction of the ÖSS, already counted more than 150 schools and 45,000 students, when the HEIs were already absorbing about 40,000 per year. Although the excess demand for places at HEIs did ease somehow - with the Government stepping up the pace at which it increased the number of students finally placed on HEIs compared - the rhythm of expansion of the private tutoring system was relentless: in the last 35 years, the number of schools, students and teachers grew at an annual cumulative rate of about 10 percent annually, as Table 4.2 shows. Hidden in the statistics of Table 4.2 lies another significant factor that fueled the growth in the system of dershanes even further: the creation of a mandatory national exam for entering the most prestigious secondary schools in the country, currently known as the SBS (Seviye Belirleme Sınavı or Student Placement Examination). This exam resulted in a further expansion of the dershane system. As of today, roughly one-third of the population of dershane students is made up of primary education students preparing their SBS (Tansel & Bircan 2008, p.13). 35 The authors’ conclusions in regards to how intertwined private financing, the early-tracking system fostered by entrance examination tests and potentially serious health issues are: “It is clear that the single administration of a standardized test that defines the future lives of high school seniors is not only stressful and leads to high observed rates of depressive symptoms among students but is also a contentious national educational policy. And despite the process being perceived as meritocratic and immune to manipulation, it is also clear that many students are tutored privately and the resources of the family and the motivation of the parents themselves define the success rate among the studentsâ€? (Yıldırım et al., 2007, p. 40). Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 27 55. The significant disparities in private financing highly inequitable. Education financing overall – of education in Turkey are reinforced by significant with the big contribution of private funding - is highly differences in the distribution of monetary resources correlated with socio-economic background and too from public funding across the country. As a matter tilted towards the highest levels of education, with the of fact, the bulk of the financing of public education difference in per student costs by level of education in Turkey, especially for the pre-university levels, is still excessively high compared to the average OECD highly centralized and very rigidly based on a fully country.40 This imbalance in the funding of educational norm-based scheme by which per school allocations levels across the school system further perpetuates are determined on the basis of a few inputs like the number of classes, students, and teachers, but not on regional asymmetries directly impinging on the stark the basis of real needs driven by demand factors (e.g. differences in the quality and equity of education school-age population growth) or by equity-driven across the country. factors (e.g. higher per pupil cost for students from disadvantaged populations) (World Bank 2005b, 58. The Government of Turkey is taking some steps 2006a). As a result, per student expenditure allocations to better understand the dynamics of the financing do not seem to correct for regional differences, but instead to reinforce these patterns.36 of education through the collection of detailed data. The most significant initiative was the creation of the Turkey’s Financing of Education and Educational 56. Non-monetary resources also appear to be Expenditure Information System (TEFBIS, in its Turkish aligned in a way that exacerbates the inequality acronym). TEFBIS is a public-private partnership of opportunities. Çıngı et al. (2007) undertake a involving the Ministry of Education, Hacettepe comprehensive quantitative study of four dimensions of educational opportunity37 and form an index of University and BNB Consulting Firm that started in educational development for each of the 923 sub- 2006 and its design was completed in December 2009 provincial districts in the country. In the case of physical (Ergün, 2009). This project has been designed to keep infrastructure for primary schools, they come to the record of the revenues and expenditures of education conclusion that, to equalize physical infrastructure institutions tied to MONE (as well as district-, across the country38, the Government would need to province- and region-level data). On the revenue side, build 124,165 classrooms, 5,708 computer labs, 4,518 this system will attempt to document all sources of science and language labs, 4,096 libraries, and also private funding accruing public schools, like parent- procure 78,425 computers (Table 51, p.227).39 teacher associations (PTAs41)’ contributions, probably the key outside source of financing for all public 57. Finally, the allocation of public resources across schools. The database includes a specific module on different levels of education in Turkey also looks PTAs and their contributions, which will be the first of 36 World Bank calculations based on Yılmaz and Emil (2008, Annex 3.1, p.59) show that there is a positive correlation of 0.17 between per student expenditure on public basic education (primary and pre-primary) and the level of educational development of the provinces. Yılmaz (2006) also shows that the correlation between per student expenditure and annual population growth of the provinces is -0.73, which seems to run counter to expectations, even before any equity- driven adjustments we may think of. Instead, this seems to be showing that sudden changes in demographics are not properly incorporated or adjusted for by the current financing arrangements. 37 These dimensions are basic educational infrastructure, physical infrastructure of the school, level of (public and private) educational investment, and educational achievement. See Çıngı et al. (2007), pp.9-14. 38 The equalization principle is given by bringing each district’s value in each category to the current average for that particular indicator for the whole country. 39 Çıngı et al. (2007) also undertake a thorough assessment of the 57 districts that fall within the highly under-developed category of the educational development index and they survey them. Interestingly enough, although the “lack of libraries or labsâ€? and “lack of materialâ€? categories are seen as very important problems by a majority of these districts (39.3 percent and 46.8 percent of districts, respectively), the three resource areas with the highest degree of agreement in regards to urgent attention needed by educational authorities are the lack of janitorial services (91.9 percent), the lack of teachers (74.2 percent) and the lack of adequate accommodation for teachers (73.8 percent) (See Table 65, p.364). 40 For example, whereas the typical ratio of total per student cost for secondary versus primary education is about 1.2, each secondary student in the Turkish system costs 130 percent more than the typical primary education. An even more pronounced situation happens when we compare higher education with any of the other two levels: whereas the typical per student higher education cost for an OECD country is roughly twice as high as its primary education counterpart, for Turkey the ratio hovers around 5. No other OECD country presents a ratio higher than 3.2 (see Table A11 in the Annex). 41 PTAs in Turkey are known instead as Schools-Parents Associations, following the translation of the expression Okul-Aile BirliÄŸi. See Eurydice (2010), p. 64. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 28 its kind ever in Turkey.42 TEFBIS is in the process of in the formula that may help address other structural being rolled-out to the whole country and will become issues outside the control of the education system, like a mandatory form, from 2011 onwards, to be filled out the school-age population density. annually by schools. The idea behind documenting A reform in that direction is a good step but will be all sources (public and private) of funds for financing more effective if local schools have more control of schools in Turkey is to get a comprehensive picture and capacity to use their resources to meet local needs. of per student funding in the country. Upon this In other words, a successful introduction of PCF thorough diagnosis of asymmetries in funding, the systems entails a significant degree of decentralization Government is thinking about introducing corrective of resources from the Central Government to the local measures. Among these measures we find the design governments, first, and from local governments to of specific programs or funding targeted to the most schools, in second place. With decentralized financing disadvantaged populations.43 to the schools, resources are no longer budget- line earmarked, and therefore school principals do C. Policy Options not simply execute budgets per the government- issued norms, but they are now fully in charge of the school budget.44 Capacity building, autonomy 59. Introduce a new system for financing public and accountability are thus essential complementary education that uses formula funding arrangements ingredients that will maximize the effectiveness of based on capitation principles. The most efficient and any of these financing changes (Barrera-Osorio et al., equitable systems of financing education are those that 2009; Eurydice, 2007; Gershberg, 2005). heavily rely on formula-based funding arrangements around a general per capita financing (PCF) scheme (Alonso & Sánchez, forthcoming; LevaÄ?ić, 2008; Ross 60. Increase targeting of public resources towards & LevaÄ?ić, 1999). These systems are characterized by the groups with the greatest needs and the highest the principle that “money follows the userâ€? and are returns to education. Prioritizing the allocation of also used in other social sectors (e.g. health, see World public resources to the groups that are most in need Bank, 2008a). Funding is determined according to the (the poor, girls, rural areas) maximizes the returns number of pupils, the main indicator in the formula, but per dollar spent and helps to equalize educational pupils are differentiated according to characteristics opportunities across the country (Harmon et al., 2003; that cause the costs of educating them to differ (e.g. Patrinos, 2008). Therefore, targeting public resources grade/age, curriculum, location, minority language, to these particular groups is sensible from a purely social disadvantage). As a result, such a system economic standpoint: getting the most out of each directly addresses equity concerns by generating per dollar invested helps to improve the efficiency in the student expenditures that better reflect the real cost of use of scarce resources. education in different places and for different student Targeting resources, however, is also key to foster a populations. Furthermore, these schemes can present culture that sees equity as a core value of the system. strong incentives to improve educational equity by When the impact of socio-economic background on rewarding, for example, increases in access to school student performance is high, as it is the case in Turkey, of the out-of-school population, improvements in urgent remedial measures are at stake. As Alacacı educational outcomes or quality improvements at the and ErbaÅŸ (2010) put it, measures to compensate for school level. Finally, other factors may be included “deficiencies in school social capitalâ€? are needed in 42 The system will also reflect income derived from the rental of school areas. Through this system it will be possible to monitor school-based expenditures, follow up on donor contributions to see what they are used for, produce up-to-date information for national researchers and international organizations on education expenditures, and, as a result, create a system of data transparency and credibility. 43 The Central Government is also attempting, through the projected financing of specific programs, to start addressing some of the profound disparities in access to a higher-quality education. For example, the Government is planning to expand the bussing of disadvantaged students, especially girls, from primary to secondary education to increase the coverage rate (and lower the existing gender bias) for the latter. Also, there is a plan for significantly rehabilitating the facilities (e.g. bathrooms) in a number of regional boarding schools so as to entice parents into sending their children to these schools and stop attending bad-quality schools from their villages. See MoNE (2009c), p.95. 44 Principals are now empowered with a completely new role by which they become financial and resource managers, and most importantly they become instructional leaders, because of the possibility of administering resources in a more rational way and applying any savings to quality-enhancement expenditures. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 29 order to reduce the large differences across schools exams would be a significant step towards increasing in the distribution of learning outcomes. A systematic educational opportunities across the country (Ferreira strategy for enhancing the equity in the distribution of & Gignoux, 2010; Polat, 2008). One option to resources across regions of the country could go a long consider is the elimination of both exams. Of special way in creating such an equity culture. For example, interest is the secondary entrance exam (SBS) which India presents an interesting case of a highly-populated is not universal but encompasses one-third of the total country that attempted to introduce educational number of students in dershanes, generating an early- development indices some time ago to start targeting tracking system that make students as young as 11 resources in a way that significantly helped to align the years old (6th grade) start attending private tutoring to real investment needs of each district with the annual maximize their chances of attending the best public allocations (Jhingran & Sankar, 2009).45 Exploring secondary schools in the country. A second option substantial changes to the current pattern of sub- would be to significantly reform these exams. This sectoral funding could be another potential avenue for could be accomplished by radically enhancing their improving the targeting of resources. Shifts in funding scope and nature and comprehensively cover more priorities across different levels of education towards aspects of the curricula. For example, in the case of the lowest levels, where universal coverage has not the university entrance test (YGS-LYS), Turkey could been ensured, would be an equity-oriented approach mimic successful end-of-cycle tests elsewhere in to compensate for significant differences in the socio- the world (e.g. International Baccalaureate, German Abitur, etc.). The World Bank (2005a, pp.23-4) economic background with which children enter the presents a comprehensive set of benefits that would system. arise from a new exam system for accessing higher education. They are well synthesized in World 61. Overhaul the current system of secondary and Bank (2007a): “[a]t a minimum, the exam should tertiary education entrance exams. The current be comprehensive covering all curricula and should system of entrance examinations encompasses a high measure what students learned in secondary school, degree of early tracking of students and makes the including the curricula for the last year of secondary system heavily dependent on private tutoring. Since schooling. Looking at exams in other countries – for access to high-quality private tutoring is so highly example, the International Baccalaureate, the German correlated with socio-economic status, changing Abitur, and the British “Aâ€? levels – is a way to start the current configuration of the system around these thinking about how to develop a new examâ€? (p.34).46 45 Although the equity orientation of this general program of resource allocation (known as Elementary Education for All Mission, or Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) still needs further improvements, changes made in the last few years have significantly resulted in an increase of educational equity across many dimensions. Two interesting principles are at the core of the system: 1) resource allocations follow evidence-based targeting principles; and 2) “equitable and not equal should be the guiding principleâ€? (Jhingran & Sankar, 2009, p.25). 46 Although a purely merit-based system for selection into secondary and tertiary education could look as the fairest solution on paper, the correlation between socio-economic background and success at these entrance exams is so strong that if needs-based elements are not introduced in selection processes of elite public institutions the equality of educational opportunities across the country will be greatly jeopardized. A radically different set of entrance exams buttressed by a significant push for quality-enhancing improvements in public education in the country could go a long way in gradually decreasing the heavy reliance of the system on the private tutoring industry and, as a result, significantly boost the efficiency, equity and quality of the system. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 30 Chapter V: Information A. Background 62. Information is a key crosscutting tool to happening in the education system, what is working affect the three broad areas that are critical to and what is not, shedding light on a problem, helping support high-quality student outcomes: inputs to build support for needed changes, and creating and processes, incentives, and accountability (see accountability mechanisms. If it works well, this Figure 1.10 in Chapter 1). High quality information process includes a continuous learning process and can help to improve the quality of inputs and feedback loop and would occur at the classroom, processes, including pre-primary education, teachers, school, system and policy levels. Without information, school leadership, curricula, learning materials it is almost impossible to work on improving the quality and equipment, and school facilities through an of education since specific areas needing improvement examination of what works best, how, and in what and the effects of changes remain unknown. circumstances, and through adjustments and changes in inputs and processes as needed. Good data is also 64. An education system that encourages the needed to design and implement effective incentives, collection and use of data at all levels of decision- monetary as well as non-monetary, to encourage making—at the classroom, school, provincial and better teaching and learning. And last, but not least, national levels--can support a more efficient and information can support increased accountability equitable system with improved student learning for improved outcomes by giving voice to students, outcomes. Parents, students, teachers, school directors, parents, teachers, school leaders, and communities at community leaders, researchers, policy makers and the local level as well as policy makers and the public others, such as the business community, can help at the national level. bring about change if they are informed about what is happening. 63. Figure 5.1 shows how the collection, analysis, and use of information can encourage quality 65. Information is needed at three levels in the improvement through dissemination and discussion education system— the student level, the school of data and necessary changes. Information can level, and the provincial and national level—to provide pressure to improve quality in a variety provide the information needed for students, of ways, through better understanding of what is parents, teachers, school directors, researchers and Figure 5.1- Using Information to Improve Quality Collect Analyzedata Disseminate Create Data and Analysis tounderstand Publish Discuss findings to support for process whatis happening shedlight change data Change: Incentives Accountability Policies Behavior Outcomes  Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 31 policy makers. At the student level: students, parents specialists, education planners and others to use the and teachers need to be informed about the strengths data more effectively in their work. A systematic and challenges of the individual student and what approach to EMIS development is lacking in many is needed to help him or her perform better. At countries that are trying to incorporate improved the school level: students, parents and community data collection and use into their education systems. members need easy access to accurate information Box 5.2 presents good-practice examples from both about local schools to make informed education developed and developing countries. decisions. Teachers and school directors need to be able to work with colleagues to support and learn B. What is the status of from each other on what works best in improving teaching and learning at their schools and to make information in Turkey? adjustments or take corrective actions as needed. At the provincial and national level: policymakers need 67. Recent initiatives in Turkey to start collecting to be able to identify which programs are making the and using information suggest an interest in biggest difference for students and teachers and use moving towards better data and more use of such that information to inform policies, implementation data to improve the education system. For example, approaches and funding decisions. In addition, Turkey participated in an OECD study that examined dissemination and discussion with other stakeholders, basic education in the country (OECD 2007b) and in including the public at large, would generate better several international tests of student learning (PISA understanding of Turkey’s education system and help 2003, 2006, 2009 and 2012; TIMSS 1999 and 2007, to create consensus on needed reforms. and PIRLS 200147). Turkey also recently carried out its first national standardized assessment of student learning, which will be released shortly, and plans 66. The development of an Education Management to continue carrying out these national assessments Information System (EMIS) is a necessary step in on a periodic basis.48 Continuing to participate in order to collect the needed data. Developing an international tests of learning outcomes and carrying EMIS has typically been more complex, challenging, out additional national assessments are important labor intensive and expensive than anticipated. An initiatives for Turkey to understand the level and EMIS is a system for the “collection, integration, distribution of student learning outcomes over time processing, maintenance and dissemination of data and to benchmark Turkey’s system against other and information to support decision making, policy- countries. analysis and formulation, planning, monitoring and management at all levels of an education system. It is a system of people, technology, models, methods, 68. MoNE also launched the E-School Database processes, procedures, rules and regulations that (ESD), an integrated database for all levels of function together to provide education leaders, education in May 2006 to support the process of decision makers and managers at all levels with a achieving information-based education policies. comprehensive, integrated set of relevant, reliable, The ESD, which will connect all schools and education unambiguous, and timely data and information to institutions on the web once it is fully fledged out, aims support them in completion of their responsibilitiesâ€? to gather all school-level data in one main database so (Cassidy, T. (2005), p. 25). While much effort is as to enhance the degree of coordination between the often spent on strengthening technical skills to Ministry units and the different institutions under its build, maintain and use the data collection system, scope (provincial and district branches of the Ministry, not as much is spent on how to ensure data quality regular and special education schools, adult education or on building the skills of data analysts, evaluation institutions, etc.) (See Box 5.3). The goal of the ESD 47 TIMSS stands for Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and PIRLS stands for Progress in International Reading Literacy Study. Both types of assessment are administered by the Lynch School of Education at Boston College. For further details see http://timss.bc.edu/. 48 MoNE has an established tradition of assessing learning outcomes at the national level. Ever since 1994 a national Student Achievement Assessment Test (Öğrenci BaÅŸarılarını DeÄŸerlendirme Sınavı - ÖBBS) has been held every three years or so for grades 4 through 8 for evaluating Turkish, Math, and Sciences. These tests, however, measure what students learn in each class level and what they lack, rather than what they know. For a description and statistics on the ÖBBS, see http://earged.meb.gov.tr/earged/Ol%C3%A7me/tanitim_devam.html. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 32 Box 5.1: Education Management Information Systems (EMIS): Good Practices Across the World Bangladesh: Bangladesh has a long history of successful data collection since the early 1990s with the implementation of the first school census. A significant proportion of work in this area has been supported by donor aid, enabling the country to build up a significant amount of analytical data to measure the quality of educational inputs (physical facilities, materials, numbers and training status of teachers) and also the internal efficiency of the education system. In Bangladesh a pilot project has been implemented to support decentralized education planning in 20 sub-districts across the country. This involved each sub-district to collect accurate and up-to-date information from each school over a basic set of indicators. On the basis of these data a list of challenges was drawn up and a set of objectives developed. The benefit of this approach is that it involves identifying local issues and local responses (Powell 2006, p.16). Colombia: Among promising examples of the use of EMIS is the case of the Bogotá municipality’s collection and use of school census and student-level data to optimize the allocations of students and teachers to schools. It is hard to imagine a more persuasive example of the potential for good data to inform and support decision-making. The Bogotá experience is rich in that it offers an example of the use of data that yielded a more equitable distribution of resources and equality of opportunities for learning for students, and also an example of the power of good data when used as part of a transparent decision-making process. The fact that the quality of these data has helped the government achieve considerable financial savings makes it an even more interesting example (Cassidy 2005, p.31) Ghana: The EMIS unit in Ghana plays an important role in helping the government to formulate operational plans and also to monitor progress. Prior to the preparation of the annual operational plan a preliminary sector performance report is produced and a review meeting is held in order to obtain inputs from stakeholders and donors. Moreover, the EMIS is also beginning to play an important role in supporting the process of decentralization. The outputs from the EMIS are being used to support the development of operational plans and budgets at the district level. It is expected that this will help improve operational efficiency, promote responsiveness and improve service delivery. Under these changes district offices will now have more autonomy in developing their plans, as well as some discretion over spending their annual budgets (Powell 2006, p.16). USA: The United States has a developed state-based EMIS structure. One of the good examples is Ohio’s EMIS. Established in 1989, it provides the architecture and standards for reporting data to the Ohio Department of Education (ODE). School districts, data processing centers operated by Information Technology Centers, and other EMIS reporting entities are linked for the purposes of transferring data to ODE. EMIS is the statewide data collection system for Ohio’s primary and secondary education. Staff, student, district/building, and financial data are collected through this system. Demographic, attendance, program, course, and test data are submitted to ODE at the student level. General school district and school building data, including financial data, are also reported through EMIS. The source data for Ohio’s accountability and funding systems are the EMIS data files (Ohio State Department of Education 2009, p.3). Box 5.2: E-School Database Basics The key data loaded on the E-School Database (ESD) are accessible via the Internet (at www.e-okul.meb.gov.tr) to school authorities (principals, teachers) as well as parents. Both need a username and a password to enter the system. The visible types of information are of two types: a) about the particular school, which is entered by principals, and b) about the students attending that school, which is entered by the students’ own teachers for parents and authorities to see (see Table A12 in the Annex for further details). School administrations have to make sure that each class is recorded with the accurate list of students. They are responsible for the accuracy and timeliness of all information recorded within the student operations. They also need to store recent pictures of students in the system as well as keeping a daily record of student absenteeism (with or without excuse). Exam dates and results are uploaded in the system by teachers. Principals are responsible to supervise this implementation and make sure every teacher gets a password for this. Currently all public and private primary schools, pre-primary schools and special education schools are using this ESD’s Module System. In the near future, it is expected to be expanded to secondary schools as well. Source: MONE (2009a) Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 33 is to improve the efficiency of the current system does not have a culture of disseminating, discussing in collecting and updating data so as to increase the and using information to educate the public, parents, managerial capacity of the Ministry in running a and students on the educational outcomes of individual sizeable education system and in responding in a schools or of the school system as a whole. For example, timely fashion to the dynamics of daily challenges. the OECD study on basic education in Turkey (OECD 2007b) highlighted key steps for education reform and 69. The ESD is an excellent tool for education policy could have been used as a starting point for discussions making in Turkey, and while it has kept improving on next steps in Turkey’s agenda to improve the quality since its launch in 2006, it still faces challenges. of basic education. The same holds for PISA results. The main requirements for a successful EMIS Turkey is to be commended for participating in PISA design are timely and reliable production of data and and continuing to participate even when results were information, data integration and data sharing among poor. But the next step---discussing and using the departments, and effective use of data and information results to motivate change--has not occurred, for the for educational policy decisions among others. The most part. These reports could be used to educate the World Bank recently analyzed parts of E-school public on Turkey’s educational outcomes and to build database to help MoNE develop targeting criteria for support for reform. the School Development Program that was launched in 2010. Undertaking this analysis highlighted some 71. Countries that have embarked on significant of the gaps in data. A next step for MoNE is to match reform and expansion of education usually do the reality of the E-school database to its enormous so through reports on education and public potential. discussion. For example, as illustrated in Tables 5.1 and 5.2, Ireland began its reforms in the 1960s through 70. More needs to be made out of this wealth of many key reports highlighting issues and needed information if the data and studies are to be truly reforms and continued this through the 1990s with effective in helping to bring about support for an unprecedented level of consultation on education change and improvement in Turkey: it will require reforms (Coolahan, 2008). Another example is Chile, a cultural change. Hua and Herstein (2003) argue which began reforms to improve quality and equity in that establishing a data and information system is not the 1990s, and undertook an OECD study in 2004 to enough, instead actual emphasis should be made on examine the impact of the reforms and needed course nurturing a new data management culture. Turkey corrections (Cox, 2008). Table 5.1: Some Key Reports in Ireland in the 1960s Table 5.2: Consultation in Ireland in the 1990s • Investment in Education, 1965 • Regional Seminars, Dissemination • Commission on Higher Education, 1967 Conferences • OECD, Review on Science/Technology, 1964 • National Education Convention • Report on Education of Mentally Handicapped, • Roundtable on R.E.C’s 1965 • National Conference on School Management • Steering Committee Report on Technical • National Forum on Early Childhood Education, 1967 • Adult Education Forum • Report of Teachers’ Salaries Tribunal, 1968 • National Consultative Forum on Teaching • Report on Teacher Education, 1970 Career Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 34 C. Policy Options and discussing the report with workshops around the country and with different stakeholders would provide a forum for discussion, consensus building, and action 72. Encourage public discussion on education on policy changes needed in Turkey, as discussed through the production of an annual report on in the example above where Ireland held extensive the state of basic education in Turkey. Such a consultations. Over time the breadth and coverage of report would help to provide a picture of the health Turkey’s report could expand. A unit in MoNE could be of Turkey’s education system as a whole and to established to support the preparation and discussion document changes over time. The Condition of of such an annual report with high level government Education, published each year by the National Center engagement in dissemination and discussion.50 for Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education, is one example of such an annual report.49 73. Make information on individual schools, The Condition summarizes important developments including inputs and outcomes, widely available and trends in education using the latest available data to the public through the creation of school report and is available on the Department’s web site as well cards for basic education. Report cards would as in printed form. Having been developed over many analyze, publish and discuss data on education inputs years, the Condition is very comprehensive, including – e.g. availability of learning materials, teacher data and analysis on the status of 46 indicators in five qualifications – and outcomes – e.g. graduation rates, areas related to education in the United States - for results of achievement tests, improvement from year example, enrollment trends by age, status of early to year – at the school level providing more voice to development of children, knowledge and skills of students, parents and communities to exert pressure young children, and expenditures by district. An on local schools for needed changes. The data could area of special analysis is also included each year - also be used to target extra assistance to schools for example, international assessments in 2009 and with poorer outcomes to help them improve their mobility in the teacher workforce in 2005. Analyzing, performance, allowing the schools to determine their publishing and discussing data on Turkey’s education greatest needs, take steps to address the issues, and inputs and outcomes would help to generate and measure change over time. Such an approach could action on policy changes needed and would help help to alleviate the effect of the substantial differences in learning outcomes by type of school, which need to policy makers to monitor the system performance and be addressed in Turkey in order to raise overall quality evaluate efforts to improve quality, making adjustments of education and to reduce inequities. If over time as needed. There is a need, however, for coordinated school performance did not improve other steps could conversation and consultation on the findings, and a be considered. willingness to discuss problems candidly. A number of countries, such as India, Australia In beginning to develop an annual report Turkey would and the United States, have school report cards start with a smaller and less ambitious set of indicators that are available on a state-by-state basis in report and analyses, focusing initially on the areas of highest form as well as on the web. For example, a web priority in Turkey as well as areas for which data are site maintained by The National University of available. Publishing the annual report on MoNE’s Educational Planning and Administration in India web site would allow stakeholders across the country provides school report cards for more than 1.25 easy access to the data. In addition, disseminating million schools by state, district, and school.51 As there 49 For further information on this report, see http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/. 50 In December 2007, MoNE created a new Internal Audit Unit (IAU), following the national law #1508, in an effort to increase accountability, financial transparency, and functioning of the public management structure. The Unit produced its first report in 2009 and focused their analysis on the day-to-day management of MoNE. This is a commendable effort since such an annual report is an essential tool for the management of the education system. The upcoming IAU’s report for 2010 will focus on some of the areas highlighted in this document, most notably, pre-primary education, dershanes and private schools, and organization and publication of statistical information. For further information on the work of this unit, see http://icden.meb.gov.tr. 51 For India, see http://schoolreportcards.in, for Australia, see http://www.myschool.com.au/. In the case of the United States, each state develops its own website for school report cards. A good example of these websites is the one for the State of Ohio (check http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?page=279). Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 35 are substantial differences in the characteristics of at the school level as well as the system level if the students, available resources, and the level of learning quality and comprehensiveness of the database are outcomes by type of school, the analysis of school- improved and gaps in coverage are eliminated. With level data needs to examine the resources at the school comprehensive and complete data, the E-school as well as the socio-economic status of the school. This database can then be used to develop the annual report is important in Turkey where the income distribution on education and school report cards as well as measure of students in Turkey varies by school type and is and evaluate progress in educational outcomes. As highly correlated with school performance. In fact, discussed, the World Bank’s recent use and analysis one study shows that Turkey is the OECD country of certain parts of the database indicate problems in with the second highest index of separation between the comprehensiveness and quality of the data that schools indicating that a high degree of sorting of 15- hamper its current function. If MoNE and the Turkish year-olds from different socio-economic backgrounds Statistics Institute continue to cooperate according to into different schools (Field et al., 2007). The specific international standards and classifications, the data data to be provided on the socio-economic status of collected in this database can ideally cover the outputs the students would vary according to the country and of educational institutions, the policy levers that shape the availability of data. For example, the India reports educational outputs, the human and financial resources discussed above provide information on the number of invested in education, structural characteristics of students receiving scholarships or subsidies for books education systems, and the economic and social or uniforms. outcomes of education. The database would not only produce and publish indicators and analysis on the 74. Improve the coverage, quality and availability evolution and impact of education, but it would also of data on basic education through improvements guide policy makers in the right direction to improve to the E-School Database. The ESD has good the overall quality and equity of basic education by potential for documentation and analysis of education clearly specifying the gaps in education in Turkey. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 36 Chapter VI: Conclusions 75. Although Turkey has significantly expan- ambitions of the country and is also significantly more ded access to basic education in the last de- inequitable than most other OECD countries. Table 6.1 cade, important challenges await on two in- summarizes the expected impact of each of the policy terrelated fronts: quality and equity. Turkey’s options---pre-primary education, teachers, financing, educational system is currently of low qua- and information--on the quality and equity of basic lity relative to the growth and competitiveness education. Table 6.1: Summary of Policy Options and Expected Impact on Quality and Equity Policy Area Policy Options Expected Impact o Modify the next stages of MONE’s roll-out of • Increased enrollment rate for 5-year-olds the pre-primary education expansion program across the country and higher rates of return to ensure the country is able to meet its goal of to education for the most disadvantaged universal access to kindergarten by 2014/15 provinces. Pre-Primary o Develop a quality assurance framework for • Clearer goals for staff-to-child ratios, new Education public and private provision of early childhood requirements for early childhood educators, education and the creation of a new quality rating system. o Expand the information campaigns about the • Increased parents’ desire for their children to importance of early childhood education start school earlier. o Support and hold accountable new teachers in • Better environment for the teaching profession the first few years of teaching as a whole. o Create new incentives — monetary and non- • Better-remunerated, more highly motivated monetary — to attract and retain high-quality and more skillful teacher corps. Teachers teachers o Improve teacher training, aligning in-service • Better trained teachers and a less unequal with pre-service training, and establish school- distribution of skills across the teacher force, based teacher training strategies enhanced cooperation across teachers, and larger peer effects. o Introduce a new system for financing • Higher levels of inputs to improve the quality of public education that uses formula funding the most disadvantaged schools. arrangements based on capitation principles o Increase targeting of public resources towards • Higher rates of return to education from the the groups with the greatest needs and the investment in those groups (e.g. lower levels Financing highest returns to education of education, most disadvantaged regions, and girls). o Overhaul the current system of secondary and • Reduced reliance on private funding for private tertiary education entrance exams tutoring or re-investment of these funds into the public system for quality-enhancement activities. o Encourage public discussion on education • Improved knowledge and understanding of the through the production an annual report of the performance of the education system; more state of basic education in Turkey discussion and support for education reform. o Make information on individual schools, • Improved transparency and accountability Information including inputs and outcomes, widely available at the school level; empowered parents and to the public through the creation of school students. report cards for basic education o Improve the coverage, quality and availability • Better data for education policymaking and of data on education through improvements to for decision-making by parents, students, the E-School Database teachers, and administrators. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 37 76. The various policy options face trade-offs 80. Developing a quality assurance framework for in terms of their expected impact and the risks public and private provision of early childhood associated with carrying them out. The latter is a education is a necessary step to ensuring high- broad term as it encompasses risks linked to the political quality education choices, especially as a wide economy of these undertakings, the expected financial variety of pre-primary options including through costs, and the technical and logistical knowledge and centers, schools and kindergartens will be needed capacity to carry out such changes. Not surprisingly, a to meet Turkey’s goals. This expansion of pre- positive correlation exists between the degree of risk school, which will require a significant degree of and the degree of likely impact. cooperation between the public and the private sector for provision and financing, can be carried out much 77. The rest of this chapter discusses the expected more effectively if a quality assurance framework is impact and possible risks for each of the four policy in place. Thus the impact of a good quality framework areas. An assessment of the financial costs for each is high and should be in place before or at the same of the suggested options would help sorting through time that a major expansion occurs rather than later. the trade-offs among options, however, this is beyond the scope of the paper. The discussion focuses instead The costs of this option are moderate relative to other on “orders of magnitudeâ€? for the complexity of the pre-primary options but the cost of not instituting a task at hand, so that the Government of Turkey may framework is high if poor-quality providers enter the have a better grasp at what the main challenges and system. It is harder to implement a quality assurance constraints are vis-à-vis potential expected benefits. framework after the fact when poor-quality providers are already operating. Pre-Primary Education 81. Expanding information campaigns about the importance of early childhood education is likely to 78. The three pre-primary initiatives go hand in have positive impacts, especially if focused on those hand and are best implemented in a coordinated areas where the needs are the greatest. The risks way. This would encourage Turkey to have a system are also relatively low if the campaigns are carefully that is aligned with international standards of quality as designed and carried out, although increases in demand well as greater coverage and higher equity in access. for pre-primary education without concomitant increases in the supply of kindergarten spaces and 79. Modifying the next stages of MoNE’s roll-out affordable preschool options could present problems. of the expansion of pre-primary education to focus next on the provinces with the lowest pre-primary enrollment rates and to provide everyone with a year of kindergarten would increase the immediate Teachers impact by getting students in the neediest areas into kindergarten sooner. Evidence shows clearly 82. The policy options to improve teacher quality that the benefits of earlier education are largest for could have a high impact on student outcomes but those most in need. The short-term risks of successful are also highly risky, some options more than ot- implementation could increase a bit due to the higher hers. If well-designed and implemented, new teacher costs of expansion in these areas, including possible policies would help to improve the quality of teaching construction. At the same time, these costs will have and learning. The risks of the options are high, howe- to be faced sometime in the next few years if the goal ver, because the changes would challenge many as- of universal access to kindergarten is to be achieved by 2014/15 and it is better to focus on the needs and pects of the status quo and are likely to be costly given required planning sooner rather than later. MoNE does the large and growing number of teachers in Turkey. not seem to have a fully-costed plan for the expansion Some changes may stir up significant controversy not needed to meet its stated goals; without such a plan just within the sector, but for the society as a whole. the likelihood of successful achievement of MoNE’s At the same time, given the central role of teachers, ambitious goals in a short period of time is low. the costs and risks of continuing as is are high. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 38 83. Supporting and holding accountable new reasons. Coordination between MoNE and YÖK on teachers in the first few years of teaching could in-service and pre-service teacher training and the have a significant impact on quality as the first few required harmonization of policies could take quite a years of teaching—teacher selection, induction, bit of time as they require many changes in the status and retention of good teachers—are so key to the quo. Establishing new school-based teacher training long-run success of teachers. This approach requires strategies like the creation of cluster leaders or peer- much more attention and support for new teachers to-peer feedback networks, although challenging in than is currently the case and would therefore increase terms of setting a different mindset for the system as the costs of bringing in new teachers. The pressure in a whole, might not be as difficult to implement and an expanding education system for many new teachers could reduce costs of training, especially over time as each year makes it harder to implement longer and it occurs at the school level rather than at a teacher more intensive processes before teachers are teaching training institute. independently in the classroom. The necessary steps may well be short-changed to meet the needs of the moment thus increasing the risks associated with this option. Quality is often sacrificed when pressure for Financing quantity is intense, as is the case in Turkey. 86. To improve the efficiency and equity of education 84. Creating new incentives—monetary and non- expenditures in Turkey and thereby support better monetary—to attract and retain high-quality educational outcomes requires changes in the teachers could have a major impact on student financing system. These changes are likely to have learning through a better-paid and more highly a very positive impact but they are also risky if they motivated teaching staff. The changes may be risky, change the status quo and redistribute resources, with however, as they may generate significant controversy, winners and losers. especially for monetary rewards, including teacher pay where views on the adequacy of teacher salaries 87. Introducing a new system for financing public vary. Performance-based pay or bonuses frequently education that uses formula funding arrangements raise concerns among teachers and others about how based on capitation principles is of moderate impact to measure and reward performance in a fair and and risk. Although there may be challenges associated transparent way. The non-monetary incentives, such with the creation of the formula itself, many countries as new roles and responsibilities for teachers that throughout the region and world have implemented reward their expertise without taking them out of such systems. The benefit from such a change comes the classroom or new deployment schemes to place from more appropriately allocated resources per the best teachers in the most disadvantaged areas, student and resources per student that adequately are likely to be less controversial and less expensive adjust for factors that affect the cost of education The but may not have as large an impact on the teaching categorization as moderate risk rather than low risk profession as a whole. A further issue for potential comes from uncertainty about the degree to which conflict is the extent to which these revisions to the accompanying measures of school autonomy, school- teachers’ compensation package can be achieved, at based management, and capacity building would be least initially, within a fiscally neutral environment in well-designed and implemented and the extent to the education sector’s envelope. which there is a significant degree of redistribution of resources within the education sector envelope. 85. Improving teacher training, aligning in-service with pre-service training, and establishing school- 88. Increasing targeting of public resources towards based teacher training strategies would have a the groups with the greatest needs and the highest large impact if well-designed and implemented but returns to education would have a positive impact the risks are also high. This option would require on educational opportunities across the country. a fundamental rethinking of teacher preparation in There are a series of trade-offs, however, the most Turkey, not an easy change to make in any country important being the determination of the groups and for political economy reasons as well as financial the size of these special programs. If the overall level Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 39 of funding is fixed, increases for one group or one level 92. Making information on individual schools, of education comes at the expense of others, making including inputs and outcomes, widely available this a somewhat risky area for political economy to the public through the creation of school report reasons, as discussed in previous option. cards could have a large effect on the quality of basic education through increased pressure from 89. Overhauling the current system of secondary stakeholders (parents, students and educational and tertiary education entrance exams is very authorities). However, teachers and principals may much needed in order to reduce the regressive resist the publication of such information, especially impact of private spending by households and if their school does not look good, increasing the thereby improve the distribution of educational potential opposition to such an initiative. The analysis opportunities across population groups and across of school-level data needs to examine the resources the country. It is highly sensitive area, however, and at the school as well as the socio-economic status of thus fraught with risk. Initiating reforms in this area the school. As a result of these factors, this option is is essential for improving the equality of opportunity categorized as moderate rather than low risk. for education in the country, however, moving away from a 50-year-old selection system might encounter 93. Improving the coverage, quality and availability lots of resistance across a wide range of stakeholders of data on basic education through improvements (high-quality schools, students from higher socio- to the E-School Database is a prerequisite for economic background, private tutoring centers) other policy options such as the annual report on thereby jeopardizing any (potentially high) impact derived from implementing these measures. the state of education, school report cards, and implementation of a new financing approach. Such improvements would also help to measure progress in achieving goals, such as pre-primary participation Information across regions and provinces, and to evaluate reform efforts and make adjustments as needed. Thus the 90. The three information options are relatively long-tem benefit of high-quality comprehensive data low risk from a technical point of view but to be is high through its potential impact on other policy effective they require a culture change in Turkey options but the cost and risks of collecting the data are to collect, use, disseminate and discuss data. Recent relatively low. While the risks are low, it is important information initiatives suggest an interest in Turkey to that an EMIS system, including the e-school database, move towards better data and more use of such data be developed carefully in terms of both data quality to improve the education system. If a culture change and data usage. As the World Bank’s recent use and occurs, the possible impact of the information options analysis of certain parts of the e-school database is high. This requires a coordinated conversation and indicate, the reality of the database does not yet match consultation on the data, analysis and findings, and a its promise or potential. willingness to discuss problems candidly. 91. Encouraging public discussion on education Final remarks through the production of an annual report on the state of basic education in Turkey is relatively low risk, if appropriate technical and financial 94. Turkey faces significant challenges in improving resources are devoted to ensuring the quality of the the quality and equity of basic education in the data are good. If Government pays careful attention near future, but reforms in pre-primary education, to using, disseminating and discussing the findings on teachers, financing arrangements, teachers, and the state of education, the impact would be magnified the provision and use of information are key to through the design and adoption of needed policy jumpstart this process. Bold reforms in these areas changes in the Turkish education system. In addition, will be needed if Turkey wants to enhance significantly an annual report can help policy makers and the public the set of skills with which the average student leaves to monitor the system performance and evaluate efforts the education system and if the country intends to to improve quality, making adjustments as needed. reduce the existing inequality across Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 40 provinces, districts, schools and students. The current are expected, however, to have a moderate-to- configuration of the 2010 system appears to endanger high impact on the educational system and can the growth and competitiveness prospects of the country signal that Turkey is capable of implementing such groundbreaking reforms like it did in the past (e.g. as well as its social cohesion. 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Project School-Parent-Child Education Program Pre-Primary Education Mobile Kindergarten Project Summer Schools Social Services and Child Day-Care Centers Protection Agency (SHÇEK) Day Nurseries In-Service Training for Pre-Primary Teachers Mother-Father Education Association for Supporting Direct Education for Children Contemporary Life (CYDD) Financial Support for Developing ECD Supporting Pre-Primary Education Decorating Kindergartens Pre-Primary Education Programs “7 is Too Lateâ€? Campaign Mother-Child Education Mother Support Program Mother-Child Education Program Program (AÇEV) Family Letters Project Father Support Program Pre-Primary Parent-Child Education Program Foundation for the Support “Women-Child Centersâ€? Project of Women’s Work (KEDV) Source: World Bank compilation of sources Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 50 Table A2 – Pre-Primary Education Statistics in Turkey 2010/11 (Absolute Values and Percentages) Students Teachers InstitutionType Schools Classrooms Under  Total Boys Girls Total Staff Contract Independent Pre ͲPrimary Institutions 2,506 224,314 117,720 106,594 9,374 6,789 2,585 9,954 Public 1,452 184,545 96,651 87,894 7,901 5,316 2,585 6,854 Private 1,054 39,769 21,069 18,700 1,473 1,473 0 3,100 Pre ͲPrimaryClasseswithin PrimarySchools 23,397 844,780 437,934 406,846 30,799 17,570 13,229 31,224 Public 22,813 824,070 427,022 397,048 29,758 16,529 13,229 29,843 Private 584 20,710 10,912 9,798 1,041 1,041 0 1,381 Institute ofSocialServices andChildProtection 1,585 39,948 21,170 18,778 7,608 7,608 0 4,663 Institutionsopenedin accordance withLawNo. 657,art.191 118 6,776 3,472 3,304 549 549 0 495 TOTAL 27,606 1,115,818 580,296 535,522 48,330 32,516 15,814 46,336 Students Teachers InstitutionType Schools Classrooms Under  Total Boys Girls Total Staff Contract Independent Pre ͲPrimary Institutions 9.1% 20.1% 20.3% 19.9% 19.4% 20.9% 16.3% 21.5% Public 5.3% 16.5% 16.7% 16.4% 16.3% 16.3% 16.3% 14.8% Private 3.8% 3.6% 3.6% 3.5% 3.0% 4.5% 6.7% Pre ͲPrimaryClasseswithin PrimarySchools 84.8% 75.7% 75.5% 76.0% 63.7% 54.0% 83.7% 67.4% Public 82.6% 73.9% 73.6% 74.1% 61.6% 50.8% 64.4% Private 2.1% 1.9% 1.9% 1.8% 2.2% 3.2% 3.0% Institute ofSocialServices 5.7% 3.6% 3.6% 3.5% 15.7% 23.4% 10.1% andChildProtection Institutionsopenedin accordance withLawNo. 0.4% 0.6% 0.6% 0.6% 1.1% 1.7% 0.0% 1.1% 657,art.191 TOTAL 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%  Source: World Bank on the basis of MONE (2011). Note: Law No. 657, art.191 states that “child nurseries and day care centers can be installed for civil servants when neededâ€?. The principles and procedures of the organization and operation of these are determined by the general regulations of State Personnel Presidency in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance and Customs. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 51 Table A3 – Previous Early Childhood Teacher Education Curriculum (1998) Course Credit Course Credit Semester1 Semester2 C Principles ofECE 3 C Maternal andChildHealth 3 GE TurkishI:WrittenExpression 2 C Motor DevelopmentandEducation 3 GE Principles ofKemal AtaturkI 0 GE TurkishII:Oral Expression 2 GE Computer 3 GE Principles ofKemal AtaturkII 0 GE ForeignLanguageI 3 GE ForeignLanguageII 3 TP IntroductiontoTeachingProfession 3 C PlayinECE 3 C HumanAnatomyandPhysiology 3 C Maternal andChildNutrition 3 C ChildDevelopmentandPsychology 3 C PracticumI 3 Total Credits 20 Total Credits 20 Semester3 Semester4 C Music EducationI 3 C Music EducationII 3 C LanguageandConceptDev. 3 C Mental HealthandAdaptationDisor 3 C Mathematics Teaching 3 C ScienceTeaching 3 C TeachingComputer Literacy 2 C Physical EducationandGames I 3 TP DevelopmentandLearning 3 TP PlanningandEvaluationinTeaching 4 GE SpeakingandWritingI 3 GE SpeakingandWritingII 3 Total Credits 17 Total Credits 19 Semester5 Semester6 C Physical EducationandGames II 3 C TeachingMethods I 3 C Visual Arts I 3 C Visual Arts II 3 C Children's LiteratureI 3 C Material DevelopmentinECEII 3 C Material DevelopmentinECEI 3 C Drama inECE 3 C ChildrenwithSpecial Needs 2 C Children's LiteratureII 3 C ParentEducation 3 C PracticumII 3 GE TeachingTech.andMaterial Dev. 3 TP ClassroomManagement 3 Total Credits 20 Total Credits 21 Semester7 Semester8 C PracticumIII 3 TP Guidance 3 C ElectiveI 3 C StudentTeaching 5 C CreativityandCreativeActivities 3 C ElectiveIII 3 GE ElectiveII 3 GE ElectiveIV 3 C TeachingMethods II 3 Total Credits 15 Total Credits 14 Total Number ofCredits:146 C Contentandearlychildhoodteachingmethods course;TP Teachingprofessioncourses;GE General educationcourses  Source: Atay-Turhan et al., 2009 Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 52 Table A4: Current Early Childhood Teacher Education Curriculum (since 2006) Course Credit Course Credit Semester1 Semester2 C IntroductiontoECE 3 C Maternal andChildHealth&FirstAid 3 GE TurkishI:WrittenExpression 2 GE PhilosophyofEducation 2 GE Principles ofKemal AtaturkI 2 GE TurkishII:Oral Expression 2 GE Computer I  3 GE Principles ofKemal AtaturkII 2 GE ForeignLanguageI 3 GE ForeignLanguageII 3 TP IntroductiontoEducationScience 3 GE Computer II  3 C HumanAnatomyandPhysiology 3 TP Educational Psychology 3 C Psychology 2 Total Credits 21 Total Credits 18 Semester3 Semester4 C Maternal andChildNutiriton 2 C ChildDevelopmentII 3 C ChildDevelopmentI 3 C Children's Literature 3 C Creativity 3 C TeachingMathematics 3 C ElectiveI 3 C ChildMental Health 3 C Play 2 C Drama 3 TP Instructional Principles andMethods 3 GE HistoryofTurkishEducation 2 GE SociologyofEducation 2 TP Instructional Technologies andMaterial Dev 3 Total Credits 18 Total Credits 20 Semester5 Semester6 C Physical EducationandGames 3 C Methods ofTeachingII 3 C Music I 2 C Music II 3 C Visual Arts 3 C Material Development 3 C TeachingScience 3 GE Scientific ResearchMethods 2 TP School Experience 3 TP Special Education 2 TP ClassroomManagement 2 GE CommunityServicePractices 2 TP Methods ofTeachingI 3 TP MeasurementandAssessment 3 GE Statistics 2 GE Interpersonal Relationships 3 Total Credits 21 Total Credits 21 Semester7 Semester8 School Readiness andTrasitionto C ParentInvolvementandEducation 2 C ElementarySc. 2 C ElectiveII 2 C ResearchProjectII 2 C ResearchProjectI 2 C ElectiveIII 2 TP FieldExperienceI 5 C ElectiveIV 2 TurkishEducationSystemandSchool  GE ElectiveI 3 TP Management 3 TP Guidance 3 TP FieldExperienceII 5 Total Credits 17 Total Credits 16 Total NumberofCredits:152 C Contentandearlychildhoodteachingmethods course;TP Teachingprofessioncourses;GE General educationcourses  Source: Atay-Turhan et al., 2009 Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 53 Table A5 - OECD TALIS Results, 2009 – Key Characteristics of the Teacher Pool in Turkey and Comparison with TALIS Average, lower secondary education schools, 2007/08   Turkey TALIS Ratio Average Gender FemaleTeachers(%) 52.0 69.3 0.75 distribution FemaleSchoolPrincipals(%) 8.8 44.6 0.20 Age Teachersagedunder25yrs.old(%) 10.1 3.0 3.37 Distribution Teachersaged25Ͳ29yrs.old(%) 33.8 12.1 2.79 ofteachers Teachersaged30Ͳ39yrs.old(%) 35.0 28.0 1.25 Teachersaged40Ͳ49yrs.old(%) 14.7 29.6 0.50 Teachersaged50Ͳ59yrs.old(%) 6.2 23.5 0.26 Teachersaged60yrs.oldormore(%) 0.1 3.9 0.03 Educational PostͲsecondarynonͲtertiaryorlower(%) 0.0 3.4 0.00 attainment TertiaryeducationͲLessthanbachelor'sdegree(%) 6.0 12.9 0.47 Bachelor'sdegree(%) 88.2 52.1 1.69 Master'sdegree(%) 5.6 30.9 0.18 Doctoraldegree(%) 0.2 0.7 0.29 Employment Permanentlyemployed(%) 88.3 84.5 1.04 status FixedͲtermcontractlongerthan1schoolyear(%) 4.6 4.6 1.00 FixedͲtermcontractshorterthan1schoolyear(%) 7.0 11.1 0.63 Job 2yearsorless(%) 18.0 8.3 2.17 experience 3Ͳ10years(%) 50.7 29.2 1.74 11Ͳ20years(%) 19.4 26.9 0.72 20+years(%) 12.0 35.5 0.34  Source: OECD (2009a), Tables 2.1 to 2.4, pp.41-2. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 54 Table A6 - OECD TALIS Results, 2009 - Key needs for professional development of the teacher pool in Turkey and comparison with TALIS average, lower secondary education schools, 2007-08TALIS Average, lower secondary education schools, 2007/08   Turkey TALIS Ratio Average Teacherswho Allteachers(%) 48.2 54.8 0.88 wantedto participatein Femaleteachers(%) 51.3 56.3 0.91 more Maleteachers(%) 44.8 51.7 0.87 developmentthan theydidinthe Teachersunder40yrs.old(%) 51.2 57.5 0.89 previous18 Teachersaged40+yrs.Old(%) 37.2 52.4 0.71 months,by different TertiaryeducationͲLessthanbachelor'sdegree 26.2 48.1 0.54 characteristics orlower Bachelor'sdegree 48.8 55.4 0.88 Master'sdegreeorhigher 58.8 56.6 1.04 Teachersinpublicschools 48.4 54.9 0.88 Teachersinprivateschools 41.6 53.3 0.78 Teachers'high Contentandperformancestandards(%) 9.8 16.0 0.61 professional development Studentassessmentpractices(%) 9.2 15.7 0.59 needs(proportion ClassroomManagement(%) 6.7 13.3 0.50 ofteachers indicatingthat Subjectfield(%) 8.9 17.0 0.52 theyhavea"high levelofneed"for Instructionalpractices(%) 9.0 17.1 0.53 professional developmentin ICTTeachingSkills(%) 14.2 24.7 0.57 thefollowing Teachingspeciallearningneedsstudents(%) 27.8 31.3 0.89 areas) Studentdisciplineandbehavioralproblems(%) 13.4 21.4 0.63 Schoolmanagementandadministration(%) 9.3 9.7 0.96 Teachinginamulticulturalsetting(%) 14.5 13.9 1.04 Studentcounseling(%) 9.5 16.7 0.57 Overallindexofdevelopmentneed(Maximum= 43.0 53.0 0.81 100)  Source: OECD (2009a), Tables 3.3 to 3.4, pp.83-84. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 55 Table A7 - OECD TALIS Results, 2009 - Key characteristics of the professional development of the teacher pool in Turkey and comparison with TALIS average, lower secondary education schools, 2007-08   Turkey TALIS Ratio Average Participationof Teacherswhoundertooksomeprofessional 74.8 88.5 0.85 teachersin development(%) professional Averagedaysofprofessionaldevelopmenttaken 11.2 15.3 0.73 developmentin (meanacrossallteachers) theprevious18 Averagedaysofprofessionaldevelopmenttaken 14.9 17.3 0.86 months (meanacrossallthosewhoparticipatedonly) Averagepercentageofprofessionaldevelopmentdays 72.8 51.0 1.43 takenthatwascompulsory(%) Averagenumber Femaleteachers 13.6 17.5 0.78 ofdaysof Maleteachers 16.2 16.9 0.96 professional Teachersunder30yrs.old 16.9 20.9 0.81 development Teachersaged30Ͳ39yrs.old 13.6 18.9 0.72 undertakenin Teachersaged40Ͳ49yrs.old 14.4 17.4 0.83 theprevious18 Teachersaged50+yrs.old 10.6 14.4 0.74 months,by different TertiaryeducationͲLessthanbachelor'sdegreeor 10.6 17.6 0.60 characteristics lower Bachelor'sdegree 15.0 17.0 0.88 Master'sdegreeorhigher 19.3 19.3 1.00 Teachersinpublicschools 15.0 17.5 0.86 Teachersinprivateschools 14.9 16.6 0.90 Teachersinschoolsinavillage 15.1 17.2 0.88 Teachersinschoolsinasmalltown 17.4 17.7 0.98 Teachersinschoolsinatown 14.9 17.2 0.87 Teachersinschoolsinacity 14.4 17.4 0.83 Teachersinschoolsinalargecity 15.8 22.1 0.71 Typesof Coursesandworkshops(%) 62.3 81.2 0.77 professional Educationconferencesandseminars(%) 67.8 48.9 1.39 development Qualificationprograms(%) 19.2 24.5 0.78 undertakenby Observationvisitstootherschools(%) 21.1 27.6 0.76 teachersinthe Professionaldevelopmentnetwork(%) 39.4 40.0 0.99 previous18 months Individualandcollaborativeresearch(%) 40.1 35.4 1.13 Mentoringandpeerobservation(%) 32.2 34.9 0.92 Readingprofessionalliterature(%) 80.6 77.7 1.04 Informaldialoguetoimproveteaching(%) 92.8 92.6 1.00  Source: OECD (2009a), Tables 3.1 to 3.2, pp.80-82. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 56 Table A8 - Teachers’ Salaries in OECD Countries, 2007 Source: OECD (2009d). See Annex 3 for notes (www.oecd.org/edu/eag2009). Please refer to the Reader’s Guide for information concerning the symbols replacing missing data (m). Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 57 Table A9 - Main trends in educational expenditure in OECD countries between 1995 and 2005 Keyquestion Topthree trends Howmuchisspent 1)Educationexpenditure as%of GDPу6%(weightedaverage) oneducation? 2) Between 1995 and 2005, growth in educational expenditure (42% in 10 years) outpacedGDPgrowth. 3) The share of educational expenditure on total public expenditure also increased (11%to13%). Whatistheroleof 1) The bulk of educational expenditures (86%, on average, for all levels of education private spending? combined)isfinancedbythe publicsector 2) Private funding tends to be concentrated, specially, at two levels of education: pre Ͳ primaryandtertiary. 3) The share of private spending on pre Ͳprimary education education is about one Ͳ fifth (20%) of the total expenditure on pre Ͳprimary education; the same indicator reachesmore thanone Ͳquarter(27%) inthe case oftertiaryeducation. Whatareeducation 1) More than 90% of education expenditures at the nonͲtertiary education levels is fundsspenton? spentonrecurrentexpenditures 2) Staff salaries account for about 80% of the recurrent expenditures at the nonͲ tertiaryeducationlevels 3) Spending on research and development (R&D) in universities and higher education institutionsaccountsforaboutone Ͳquarterof total expendituresatthatlevel.  Source: World Bank’s adaptation from OECD (2009e), pp.49-65. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 58 Table A10 - Equity in education financing: Evidence and main policy recommendations Keyarea Evidence PolicyRecommendations Prioritiesfor 1) High rates of return to equity from using public 1)AcertainportionofneedsͲ basedfundingforthepoorneeds financing resources to counterbalance deficit in socioͲ to be implemented; do not tie this funding to meritͲbased education economicbackground(e.g.grantstopoorfamilies requisites, this may run contrary to the desired goal (e.g. of toreducedropͲoutrates). preventingdropoutrates). 2) Education expenditure shifting between 2) Countries charging fees for early childhood education and sectors in many countries, sometimes in a not for tertiary education need to urgently review their regressive manner (e.g. prioritizing tertiary policies(regressive). education where private resources can usually be tapped) 3) Good quality and affordable early childhood 3) Early childhood education (ECE) is the highest equity education is critical, especially for disadvantaged priority. If fees are charged at this level of education, they children(biggest"bangforthe buck") shouldbe remittedfullyforthe toopoortopay. Targeting1) Within countries, regional autonomy in 1) Countries need adequate mechanisms to redistribute (especially spending may cause disparities in the level of resources and minimize regional inequities of provision, so those students provision, unless it is balanced by mechanisms to thatminimumstandardsare meteverywhere. andregions redistribute resourcestopoorerregions. mostinneed) 2) Many countries have special schemes to direct 2) Extra resources need to be channelled through schools to additional resources to schools or school areas help disadvantaged students. Avoiding "labelling" these servingdisadvantagedstudents. resources may help reduce the degree of stigma around the school orthe studentsthemselvesmightfeel. 3) Usually, the less experienced teachers are the 3) Experienced teachers are the most important resource for onesworkinginthe most"difficult"schools. disadvantaged schools. Create a system of incentives for teachers to work on these schools ( new teacher compensation scheme s). Accountability 1) A number of countries have adopted numerical 1) Countries should adopt a small number of numerical targets (use resources targetsforequityineducation. tomeasure equityinthefinancingofeducation(e.g.reduction asapolicylever inthe numberofearlyschool dropouts) toimprove  2) National testing of individual student 2) Education systems need to plan carefully the outcomes) performance on basic skills have become a implementation (and continuation across time) of national fundamental tool to measure the performance of assessments of student learning and prepare annual reports several elementsofthe educationsystem. withthe results. 3) Many countries believe that the publication of 3)CountriesneedtoplancarefullythedisseminationofschoolͲ results at school level is desirable or politically level test results and give strong support to the weakest and/orlegallyinevitable. schools by using the data to help bring all schools up to a desiredlevel.  Source: World Bank adaptation of Field et al. (2007), pp.20-24. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 59 Table A11 - Total per Student Education Expenditure in OECD countries, by level of education (US Dollars of 2006 of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) value) Annual expenditureper student RelevantcostͲofͲeducationratios OECDCountry Primary Secondary Tertiary Secondary/ Tertiary/ Tertiary/ education education education Primary Primary Secondary Luxembourg 13,676 18,144 n/a 1.3 n/a n/a UnitedStates 9,709 10,821 25,109 1.1 2.6 2.3 Norway 9,486 11,435 16,235 1.2 1.7 1.4 Iceland 9,299 8,493 8,579 0.9 0.9 1.0 Denmark 8,798 9,662 15,391 1.1 1.7 1.6 Switzerland 8,793 13,268 22,230 1.5 2.5 1.7 Austria 8,516 10,577 15,148 1.2 1.8 1.4 UnitedKingdom 7,732 8,763 15,447 1.1 2.0 1.8 Italy 7,716 8,495 8,725 1.1 1.1 1.0 Sweden 7,699 8,496 16,991 1.1 2.2 2.0 Belgium 7,072 8,601 13,244 1.2 1.9 1.5 Japan 6,989 8,305 13,418 1.2 1.9 1.6 Netherlands 6,425 9,516 15,196 1.5 2.4 1.6 Ireland 6,337 8,991 11,832 1.4 1.9 1.3 Australia 6,311 8,700 15,016 1.4 2.4 1.7 Spain 5,970 7,955 11,087 1.3 1.9 1.4 Finland 5,899 7,533 12,845 1.3 2.2 1.7 France 5,482 9,303 11,568 1.7 2.1 1.2 Germany 5,362 7,548 13,016 1.4 2.4 1.7 Portugal 5,138 6,846 9,724 1.3 1.9 1.4 NewZealand 4,952 6,043 9,288 1.2 1.9 1.5 Korea 4,935 7,261 8,564 1.5 1.7 1.2 Hungary 4,599 3,978 6,367 0.9 1.4 1.6 Poland 3,770 3,411 5,224 0.9 1.4 1.5 SlovakRepublic 3,221 2,963 6,056 0.9 1.9 2.0 CzechRepublic 3,217 5,307 7,989 1.6 2.5 1.5 Mexico 2,003 2,165 6,462 1.1 3.2 3.0 Turkey 1,862 4,362 9,747 2.3 5.2 2.2 Canada n/a 7,774 22,810 n/a n/a 2.9 Greece n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a OECDaverage 6,437 8,006 12,336 1.2 1.9 1.5  Source: Own elaboration on the basis of OECD (2009f), p.50 and calculations from Chawla et al. (2005), Annex 2, Summary Tables 6, 7, and 9 Note: Countries are sorted in descending order of their annual expenditure per student in primary education. Improving The Quality And Equity Of Basic Education In Turkey Challenges And Options 60 Table A12 - Main Contents of the Turkish E-School Database (A Review of the E-School Manual) TypeofInformation MainContent SchoolInformation Address,phone/faxnumber,websiteinformation,typeofschool  StudentInformation Nationality,IDnumber,name,father/mothername,place/dateofbirth,sex, civil status, responsible parent, grade/class, school number as well as more detailed records on who the student resides with, whether the house is rental/owned, whether the student has his/her own room, heating type of the house, how the studentcomes to school, if the student works, wholives in the household besides the core family, the accidents/surgeries the student had, any serious/chronic illnesses that the student had/has, any prosthesis/device/medication the student might be using permanently, height/weight, number of siblings, income level of family, whether he/she is the son/daughter of war veteran/martyr, whether the student is attending a boarding school, scholarships students hold, whether or not the student is withinthescopeofbussededucation,etc. ParentInformation Nationalities of parents, ID numbers of parents, is the father/mother alive,  occupation of parents, education level of parents, contact information of parents,incomelevelofparents,etc.  Source: World Bank on the basis of MONE (2009a) Notes: Notes: