The Evaluation of cooperative education programs at post-secondary technical and vocational education institutes in Turkey

SUMMARY This study was undertaken to obtain the views of the employers, faculty and students toward the cooperative education programs at three-year post-secondary technical and vocational institutes in Turkey. To survey the current status and practices of the existing program (Apprenticeship and Vocational Training Act: 330d) three questionnaires were forwarded to a sampling of the teacher-coordinators, employers and cooperative students. Frequencies and percentages are used in the analysis of results which axe obtained from 205 coordinator teachers, 350 employers and 956 cooperative students, and chi-square and a one-way analysis of variance are utilized for testing of significance. The major findings of this study are as follows:. There were differences of the organizational structure (type, number of staff, size etc.).. There were problems on the implementation of the Apprenticeship and Vocational Training Act: 3306.. A significant difference was found among different areas of development levels on the cooperative vocational education (COVE) experience,. There was no significant difference on the carrying out the duties and the responsibilities of employers among different areas of development levels.. There was no significant difference on ttte carrying out the duties and the responsibilities of teacher-coordinators, among different areas of development levels. The findings suggest a variety of recommendations for formal school-industry relationship and for conducting further research.