QUALITY AND DIVERSITY: RECONSIDERING JOHN DEWEY AND SOME FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS OF TEACHER TRAINING SYSTEM IN TURKEY

Abstract

http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/sm-2017-0013

John Dewey has had significant influence on the education system of theRepublic of Turkey, especially during the early periods of the Republic. He provided hisrecommendations, among others, on the training of teachers in Turkey in his Report andRecommendation upon Turkish Education and contributed to the development of teachereducation system in Turkey. Although Turkey has a relatively long history of teachereducation, the system has suffered from some fundamental issues for decades. In thisregard, by focusing on the concepts of quality and diversity, this work examines therelevance of Dewey’s ideas as provided in his report and presented in his seminal bookDemocracy and Education to some historical problems of the system. It ultimately aims atproviding a wider perspective on some contemporary problems of the teacher trainingsystem by framing an understanding of a competent teacher while focusing on the conceptsof pluralistic democracy, multiculturalism, and multilingualism.