Date

2018-09-03

Author

Atmacasoy, Abdullah
Akar, Hanife

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Refugees, internally displaced people, and asylum seekers constitute the most vulnerable group whose inclusion into the national education systems has utmost importance. Turkey which hosts the highest number of Syrian displaced people, attempts to ensure the access of Syrian children to education through Temporary Education Centres (TECs) and Turkish public schools (Department of Migration and Emergency Education [DMEE], 2018; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], 2017a). TECs, which have been established in areas where there are high concentrations of Syrian people, provide primary and secondary educational services to low-proficient Syrian students in the Turkish language by offering instruction in Arabic and utilizing a modified form of the Syrian curriculum (UNHCR, 2017b). The Turkish Ministry of National Education (MNE) announced a roadmap in 2016 to take necessary steps with special emphasis on the Turkish language acquisition and rapid transition to public schools (MNE, 2016). As of December 2017, the deliberate efforts of policymakers have yielded promising results by increasing the enrolment rates of Syrian children from 30.42% in 2014 to 61.95% accounting for 604,779 registered students. Whereas 37.94% of these students are still educated at TECs, 62.06% are registered at Turkish formal schools (DMEE, 2018). The efforts to place Syrian children into Turkish education system has brought about challenges varying from infrastructural problems to pedagogical issues. The literature revealed that language poses the most significant barrier in transition to Turkish public schools (Human Rights Watch [HRW], 2015; Kesici & Baloğlu, 2017; Levent & Çayak, 2017). Students migrating from Syria are reported to have various levels of literacy in Arabic and almost no prior exposure to Turkish language (Education Reform Initiative, 2017; HRW, 2015). Despite the fact that the Article 42 in the Constitution of Turkish Republic clearly mandates Turkish as the official medium of instruction, it also allows provision of education in other languages to be determined by law. Furthermore, the Law on the Teaching and Education of Foreign Languages (No: 2329), and the regulation on the Education of the Children of Migrant Workers extend the possibilities of founding schools and providing courses on different languages. Considering the legal framework and urgency of overcoming language barrier for Syrian students, the language policy may be framed around three tendencies. First and foremost, the monolingual policy can be maintained by regarding language-as-problem which aims to move students from their mother tongue to dominant language as a resolution of language-related problems (Ruíz, 1984). In this context, the language as an ideological state apparatus is utilized by powerful groups to reproduce the existing conditions, establish and maintain exploitative relationships with less powerful ones (Althusser, 1971; Ginsburg & Clayton, 2002). The second tendency conceptualizes language-as-right by focusing on the individual rights to utilize one’s language in public sphere and the right not to be subject to any discrimination due to the language (Ruíz, 1984). This orientation is considered crucial guaranteeing civil rights for linguistic minorities as implemented through bilingual polities (Gandara & Gomez, 2009). The final orientation - language-as-source - acknowledges the attainment of language and aims to raise fluent multilinguals to promote business, commerce, and international cooperation (Ruíz, 1984). The policy of the European countries’ with regard to language acquisition can be discussed within this scope (European Union, 2017). Against the backdrop of theories on language policies, the way of appraising language policies and put into practice mean much more than a mere selection. The aim of this study is to discuss the extent of current language policy in Turkey to facilitate the access of Syrian children to educational opportunities.

URI

https://eera-ecer.de/ecer-programmes/conference/23/contribution/44531/
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/83386

Collections

Department of Educational Sciences, Conference / Seminar