Teaching or testing, which matters more? Transition among education levels in Turkey

This study analyses the alignment between educational policy of Turkey and high stakes tests administered for transitioning from secondary to high schools. Research questions focus on the opinions of secondary school teachers about the alignment between the transit exam questions and curricula, course books, and materials as well as their opinions on high stakes testing. Research was conducted based on a mixed methods study model utilizing the triangulation design. A total of 109 teachers from six different majors working in Ankara participated in the study.  An online survey consisting of eight questions was used to get teachers’ opinions. The first three questions were analyzed by chi-square tests and percentages, the fourth by arithmetic means and the last four questions by qualitative content analysis method. Results showed that in the current Turkish learning-teaching process, education is serving dominantly for tests emphasizing an evaluation oriented education system which is in contrast with education policy documents targeting the year 2023.