Problem Definition
Primary school curriculum in Turkey has a number of problems; both in terms of courses that are not included, and in terms of inadequate contents of the courses that are included, that can be listed as follows:
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Receiving information passively rather than interacting actively: The current contents of the courses in the curriculum include the children’s learning the subjects only by listening to the teachers, rather than interacting or practicing the concepts by any means. This leads them to try to memorize the concepts and formulae superficially, rather than learning the subjects by heart. As they cannot practice the concepts in real time, their knowledge remains purely abstract and theoretical. This leads to their failure to link the school subjects to real life (Houghton).
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Failing to Provide Courses for Personal and Social Education: There currently are not any courses available in the primary school curriculum for either personal education or social education. However, these courses are vital for children’s development as individuals living in a society and the most effective stage for children to overcome their personal weaknesses is the childhood, in which all the sufficient guidance for personal development should be provided (“Standards”, 3). Lacking of these courses makes it harder for children to complete their personal and social development rapidly in order to adapt to social life.
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Providing a uniform curriculum for everyone: There exists a unique curriculum for primary schools and every child is forced to take the courses that are in the curriculum, nothing less or nothing more. All the students take the same courses with the same contents, regardless of their different talents, abilities or interests. This coerces an unnecessary uniformization among children which destroys the children’s individuality, as well as possibly resulting in some children’s losing interest and courage in some school subjects.
Proposed Solutions
The proposed solutions that may possible solve the listed problems are as follows:
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Adding laboratory hours for mathematics and natural sciences: Laboratories are the best places for children to practice and observe the concepts they had learnt theoretically in courses. Simple experiments that will illustrate the current subjects covered in courses, that would be carried out by the children would make them really learn the concepts and memorize them for a longer period of time. This will also increase the children’s interest and self-esteem in these subjects, so improve their success at school. Therefore, adding laboratory hours to the primary school curriculum for the rather abstract courses
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Adding courses for personal and social education: Adding courses that aim to help the development of personalities of children, as well as making them gain necessary knowledge about social rules and obligations would make children better adapt to the society either at classroom or at outside. Besides, developing personally into an individual with high self-esteem and ambition will make the children improve their success at other school subjects as well (“Standards”, 2).
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Arranging all the course contents at basic levels and offering extended versions as electives together with electives from arts and sports: Every child is a unique individual with unique characteristics, talents and interests. A unique curriculum may be formed for every student in order to satisfy their varying abilities and interests. All the fundamental courses may be taught at basic levels as must courses and their extended versions may be arranged to be elective courses for children that are interested and talented in these subjects. In addition to these, elective courses from various fields like arts or sports may be added for students with corresponding talents to choose. A sufficient guidance should also be provided to the children to make sure they choose electives that would be the most suitable choice for them.
Criteria for Assessing Solutions
The following criteria will be used in assessing the proposed solutions:
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Cost: Cost will be a very deterministic criterion. Most of the solutions would be really costly as building laboratories, arts and sports facilities with essential materials, hiring new staff and providing textbooks for new courses would require a huge budget.
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Effectiveness: The solutions should be carried out effectively in order for them to work as planned, and carrying them out effectively would require highly qualified staff to provide effective guidance to students while choosing their courses and to provide to the point experiments for them to learn the concepts successfully.
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Feasibility: The solutions including the re-organization of the curriculum should be feasible. It must be made sure that all the necessary basic course contents together with the proposed additional ones can fit the timetable and that qualified personnel and materials can be provided.
Methodology
Firstly, a search via the internet will be performed to observe the severity of the problems defined, as inspected by the authorities. Other countries’ solutions to the same or similar problems will also be searched; if there exists any, in some books, journals or the internet. Then an interview will be carried out with a developmental psychologist regarding the issues about what and how a primary school student should taught, followed by a making a survey among primary school students about which courses they would prefer if they had the chance to choose.
WORKS CITED
Houghton, Warren. “Deep and Surface Approaches to Learning”.Engineering Subject Center.24 Oct 2009.<http://www.engsc.ac.uk/er/theory/learning.asp>
“IB Primary Years Programme Curriculum Framework”. International Baccalaureate. 24 Oct 2009.< http://www.ibo.org/pyp/curriculum/>
“Standards and Quality in Personal and Social Education in Primary and Secondary Schools in Wales”.Estyn.2 Nov 2009.< http://www.estyn.gov.uk/publications/Standards_PSE.pdf>
TTKB Ogretmenler Portali (Council of Training Portal for Teachers). 24 Oct 2009. <http://ttkb.meb.gov.tr/ogretmen/>
