Implications of global forces on teachers' work a case for Turkey

Abstract

Abstract The questions of competitiveness, efficiency and productivity as a part of public policy have become an important issue in education in response to both the global and domestic needs of the larger economic world. As a consequence, a radical change emerged in the policy of schooling, constructed to favour a teacher’s performance system in its varying forms, as a result of the idea that holding accountable teachers’ for their measured performance can lead for better trained students in educational institutions. Some quality strategies have borrowed for the establishing of uniform standards for the teaching profession. Turkey could not escape from the developments around the world and the demand for having better education to compete the economic imperatives of globalization. Teacher performance appraisal was introduced as a remedy to sort out the problems related to teaching and learning. It is seen as a means to set some professional standards to strengthen the quality of teaching, and also as a means to professional development and personal satisfaction of teachers. Hence, it aims to reform Turkish education through changing structures of the system as a result of the idea that the restructuring of teaching standards will lead to greater quality for better-trained students in educational institutions. On the other hand, according to the UNESCO report on education systems, Turkey has been ranked at the bottom among the involved countries, for autonomy of teachers’ on decision making of lesson’ content. There has been a continuing decrease on teachers’ autonomy between 2009 and 2015 (UNESCO (2017). This paper asks weather - and to what extent—teacher professionalism may in fact be realized if there is lack of autonomy for the process whereby individuals are required to be developed professionally.