Situating a Prism to See ‘All Colors’: Evaluations of the E-school System in Türkiye from the Perspective of Educational Equity

Abstract

This research intends to delve into the first-hand information pertaining to learning analytics that belongs to PreK–12 education at micro, meso, and macro levels (Shum, 2012) in Türkiye from the perspective of equity in education through seeking to obtain the views of educational authorities and policy makers viz. school principals, the members of district national education directorate as well as those of Innovation and Educational Technologies General Directorate of MoNE (Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Education). To do so, adopting a qualitative route, the study attempts to inquire into the perceptions of the said groups i.e., 45 participants; in total-with 15 participants from each-about the role and place of the existing “E-school” structure that employs learning analytics towards the use of Big Data in Türkiye. This is realized particularly toward addressing and catering to students at risk alongside the disadvantaged. In this direction the research question is: “How do the decision-making bodies in Türkiye see the current E-school system as regards ensuring and sustaining educational equity?”. The semi-structured interviews aim to direct questions e.g., respecting the situation with school dropouts, the cases of students with special needs, the situation of those who are struggling and of refugees. The findings indicate a superposition; an entangled being of inherent disadvantages and that the present system needs to be further amended to better care for ‘all’ to speak of equity. This study will cast light on the potential value of learning analytics regarding its use for targeting/solving equity problems through the expert opinions from a developing country with highly dynamic demographics.