Perceptions and approaches of partners of the 4+4+4 education system in secondary schools in system theory perspective: an example of Adıyaman city

This study aims to what extend the 4+4+4 education system of Turkey is successful in reaching intended results and to find out the perceptions of sub-agents of education systems such as teachers, directors, students and parents. To do so, the research examines the 4+4+4 education system in terms of efficiency, productivity, adjustment to the international competitiveness of education system, innovativeness, creativity and quality. According to the system theory, the whole is more meaningful than its components. Therefore, in this study all components will be separately taken under scrutiny and their contributions to the whole system will be exposed. Revealed results will provide us a luxury of comparing the new education system and the old one, especially its advantages and disadvantages. That will also lead us to find out the place and significance of the 4+4+4 education system in the eyes of society. The universe of the study; students who were studying in 2015-2016 education terms in Adıyaman city center and chosen boroughs, their parents, their teachers, school and administrative directors. Sample of the research covers 242 students, 121 parents, 186 teachers, 61 school directors and 6 administrative directors in Adıyaman city center and boroughs of Kâhta, Gölbaşı, Besni and Çelikhan. Three questionnaires are prepared with the assistance of academicians, school directors and teachers to be separately applied to the students, parents, and directors. In all these questionnaires, 5 likert scale is used. The results obtained from the questionnaires have been evaluated via SPSS 23.0 program with non-parametric analysis. In addition to the analysis, a semi-structured interview has been made with provincial and borough directors whose responses are used for further evaluation. This thesis applied three different questionaires measuring the perceptions of teacher and school principles, of students' parents and of students on 4+4+4 education system. Respectively, the first one makes analysis via gender, age, martial status, education level, avarege monthly income, positions in the schools, teaching courses, and seniority. The second one is through gender, avarege monthly income, education level, and age. The last one is through gender, age, types of school, grade, income (family). Results obtained from the data suggest that there are statistically significance between some of the independent variables. Additionally, answers given by provincial and borough administrations to the semi-structured interviews indicate that positive statements are articulated but together with several negative points.