Evaluation of effectiveness of European Union's Comenius Program according to attending teachers' opinions

Student mobility has always been a hot issue during the education history. However mobility has been limited to higher education because of constrains like age, duration and language. Comenius Program of European Union has adopted student mobility into secondary education. Objectives of this program include increasing mobility and enhancing partnerships between schools together with encouraging language learning and enhancing the quality and European dimension in education. This study focuses on analyzing the ideas of some teachers who have participated in Comenius Program on how successful the program was on meeting its objectives. The study's pattern is phenomenology. The universe of the study consists of secondary and high schools at Central district of Antalya. Sampling of the study is has been selected from the schools who have attended to Comenius Project. Data has been gathered through interview where possible, and via email where interview was not possible. Interviews had been recorded and content analysis had been done on these records. The study has revealed that although Turkish teachers were not fully aware of Comenius Program before joining, they believed that it would be beneficial. It has also revealed that the program was successful at meeting its objectives of reinforcing the European dimension of school education, contributing to improved professional development of staff directly involved in the school education sector, and to promote the learning of languages and intercultural awareness. Finally, the study concluded that the program had positive effects on self confidence of the attending students.