New Perspectives in Science Education

Turkey, which, in fact, has a deep experience in education, has turned its face towards the West in education with the foundation of the republic. In this context, an educational system with Western notion was introduced by inviting lots of pedagogues from Europe and USA, the most well-known of whom was John Dewey and a lot of students were sent abroad for the same purpose. However, there hasn’t been a positive result from all these attempts. Because, even though it has universal dimensions, education is, in essence, a cultural phenomenon. So, it can’t be imported directly, it is produced within the country.

Despite this fact, Turkey has adopted importing curricula from the West as an educational policy and it has done so for many years. However, this foreign-rooted educational policy has never complied with the national structure since the historical reality and civilization codes have been neglected. As a result of this process, which has continued up to 2000s, generations were brought up who were not exactly Western but also not themselves. Relatively more authentic policies have been applied in economy and foreign policy in these years and it has clearly been realized that this foreign-rooted educational policy is no longer sustainable. In this case, authentic ideas, philosophy and curriculum demands have come to the fore. The Ministry of Education, which took into consideration these demands, introduced a comprehensive reform in the curricula in 2004, which could be described as a change of paradigm. The curricula that came to the fore with this reform are called the Ministry of Education Model.            

The aim of this study is to analyze the Curriculum Development Model of the Turkish Ministry of Education with all its phases and dimensions. The conclusions drawn in the study carried out with documentary analysis can be summarized as follows: The ME Model, which indeed seems to be a mixture of models and bears the signs of previous curriculum development models, is still in its infancy period. The model, which is sensitive to the market, learner-centered and houses the ideas of contemporary education, is in a sense represents the search of Turkey for a balance between the global trends and national demands in education.

Key Words: Curriculum development, Curriculum, Curriculum model, ME Model, Educational rerform