The notion of Charter Schools and Its Feasibility in Turkey

Authors : Ekrem SOLAK, Ayşegül ÖZAŞKIN

Pages : 1-13

Doi:10.17275/per.15.08.2.2

View : 23 | Download : 10

Publication Date : 2015-08-30

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of Charter School system in Turkey, which was opened firstly in State of Minnesota of United States and was expanded to approximately 40 states in America today and also, in practice in some countries such as Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Sweden and Norway. Charter Schools are educational institutes that can be opened by signing a contract between a country’s institution responsible for education and a person or a group who wants to be responsible for the management of this school. This system was based on performance and accountability and pursued more competitive and innovative goals. Moreover, Charter Schools put emphasis on democracy and equality in education by being free, addressing to all students living in the region where school was located and considering individual differences and diversity on behalf of students. Eight volunteering faculty members were chosen by criterion sampling who were working in the field of Educational Sciences of universities in Turkey. Interviews were conducted with participants who were informed about the structure and operation of this system in advance. The results of the study suggested that Charter Schools were advantageous in terms of individualism, diversity and flexible curriculum though flexible curriculum, monitoring and audition process could lead to some problems when it was practiced in Turkey.
Keywords : Charter Schools, public schools, private schools