The problem of teacher training and seeking solutions in the republic period: Primary teacher schools (1954-1974)

Teachers, one of the most important elements of education, are primarily responsible for the education of students, shaping their futures and ensuring that education is qualified. The teacher, who is at a strategic point in social life, is a philosopher, scientist, consultant, guide, role-model, intellectual, architect, guide for future generations, and above all a human being, who learns first and then teaches learning to the audience. At the same time, he is a person who has been trained thanks to his own teachers. In Article 43 of the National Education Basic Law No. 1739, it is stated that teaching is a "special specialization profession that undertakes the education, training and related management duties of the state". Teachers are required to fulfill their duties in accordance with the aims and basic principles of Turkish National Education within the scope of this article. The teaching profession is a profession that requires expertise in the historical, economic, social and cultural, scientific and technological fields of societies and requires academic education and formation. It mediates in the transmission of universal and local heritage and occupies a distinctive place in societies with its mission to enable individuals to reveal and realize their hidden potentials. For this reason, the issue of teacher training has been and will continue to be an important issue in all societies. With the proclamation of the Republic, teacher training and teacher schools have become an important issue that occupies the agenda. The problem of increasing the literacy rate in the war-torn country and bringing education and training services to the farthest corners of the country by training teachers for primary education has come to the fore. The teacher was seen as an important tool for the new regime to take root and develop. In the Village Institutes, which were also established as a tool in this regard, the curriculum programs were changed with some arrangements as of 1947 and these schools were transformed into primary teacher schools as of 1954. The first teacher schools continued to train teachers until 1974.