Turkey's Century of Education Model faces implementation challenges

A new monitoring report by the ILKE Foundation Education Policies Research Center (EPAM) reveals a significant gap between the theoretical goals of the ‘Turkey's Century of Education Model’ and its practical application in schools. While teachers generally support the model’s skill-oriented and student-centered philosophy, field research indicates an implementation crisis caused by crowded classrooms, insufficient lesson durations, and bureaucratic burdens.

The report highlights a contradiction between the model’s emphasis on open-ended, process-oriented assessments and the existing high-stakes, multiple-choice format of the High School Transition System (LGS) exams. This discrepancy is reportedly causing confusion and loss of motivation among students, parents, and teachers.

Additionally, while the model promotes active learning methods such as group work and station techniques, physical infrastructure limitations and time constraints are forcing many educators to revert to traditional lecture-based teaching methods to cover required content.