Private Courses in Education or Education in Private Courses

Article History: Received 28.06.2014 Received in revised form 21.09.2014 Accepted 01.10.2014 Available online 01.03.2015 The present research discusses the views of a group of teachers working at private courses which help the students get ready for the exams in Turkish education system. Participant teachers (n=58) have been doing their MA degree through distance education at Social Sciences Institution at Amasya University. The research was carried out in the Fall Semester of 2013-2014 Academic Year. Participants were asked to answer open-ended questions. The study was based on descriptive analysis. The findings yielded four domains: “the reasons why private courses exist”, “the need for private courses”, “suggestions for solving the problem in question”, and “problems caused by private courses”. Percentages of the codes (52) having appeared under the domains are presented and the views of teachers are cited as substantiated with excerpts from the participants’ answers. Majority of the participant teachers (98%) consider that private courses are a must in the current condition of Turkish education system. This view has been supported by the claim that Turkish assessment system for high school and undergraduate placement is competition-and achievementbased. Percentages of the other views standing out as “the best suggestions” are as follows: families’ belief that attending private courses is a sine qua non to enter a university and the relief of fulfilling their responsibility for enrolling their children for a university prep school (10%); belief that private courses create equality of educational opportunity for low income families (8%); teachers’ concern about mushrooming of illegal private tutoring due to private courses closedown (38%) and their views that private courses should not be closed down because they help lower unemployment by hiring teachers (24%); exemption of teachers from interinstitutional transfer exam (27%) and operationalization of orientation services in education. In addition, teachers also point to some adverse effects of private courses on students’ social and psychological development (32%) and some parents’ diminished trust in formal education (22%). © 2015 IOJES. All rights reserved