A Qualitative Assessment of Curriculum Development Process at Secondary Vocational Schools in Turkey

2001-01-01
Yıldırım, Ali
Şimşek, Hasan
A study assessed the effectiveness and efficiency of the curriculum development process in local vocational schools in Turkey. The study design included 14 vocational high schools and 12 companies that hired graduates of these schools in 4 relatively large and developed cities. Three data collection methods were used: interviews with principals, school-industry coordinators, teachers, senior students, industry managers, and workers; observations in classrooms and workshops; and document analysis. Results indicated that the standardized curriculum in vocational education did not meet the needs of students and industry. The curriculum was outdated compared to new competencies required by industry. Only a few vocational schools were able to keep up with rapid changes in the competencies required of their students through a systematic needs assessment and curriculum development efforts. The needs assessment process worked well in some schools but not in others. The main reasons for not doing needs assessments were the heavy teaching and supervising loads, inadequate financial resources and rewards, lack of leadership and communication with industry, and the passive mood of teachers. The centralized nature of the educational system appeared to be a major obstacle to curriculum development efforts in vocational schools. Approval of curriculum was long and cumbersome and not responsive to the rapid changes in industry. (Contains 10 references.)
Journal of Career and Technical Education

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Citation Formats
A. Yıldırım and H. Şimşek, “A Qualitative Assessment of Curriculum Development Process at Secondary Vocational Schools in Turkey,” Journal of Career and Technical Education, pp. 19–31, 2001, Accessed: 00, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/82753.