Examination of child development undergraduate programs in Türkiye

This research aims to examine the undergraduate programs in child development applied in Turkey in terms of program elements. To achieve this goal, the Bologna course information packages of universities offering child development undergraduate programs were accessed and analyzed using the "document analysis" method, one of the qualitative research methods. The program qualifications, courses, and learning outcomes of the courses, course contents, recommended strategies, methods, or techniques, and assessment and evaluation approaches in the Bologna course information packages for the child development undergraduate programs of each university related to the subject were compiled and analyzed. In the analysis of program qualifications and learning outcomes, Bloom's Taxonomy, created by Bloom and colleagues, was taken into account. While analyzing the content dimension of courses and their contents, the educational teaching main areas of the Turkish Qualifications Framework for Higher Education (TQFHE) and the National Core Curriculum for Child Development Undergraduate Education (NCCCDUE) were used as bases. The frequencies of recommended strategies, methods, or techniques and assessment and evaluation approaches were examined, and all findings were discussed in the literature and conclusions were drawn. According to the research results, it was determined that in the analyzed child development undergraduate programs, the program qualifications tended towards higher-level trends, but the learning outcomes of the courses tended towards lower-level trends, leading to the conclusion that the alignment between program qualifications and learning outcomes was not at the desired level. Although the number of compulsory courses in the courses exceeded NCCCDUE slightly, it was considered to be at an acceptable level. While the distribution of compulsory courses was in line with the compulsory courses recommended by NCCCDUE, elective courses varied. However, NCCCDUE indicated that each university could decide based on its needs. It was found that the course contents showed a distribution in the fields of health, educational sciences, and social services from the TQFHE educational teaching main areas. It was concluded that teacher-centered method techniques were predominant among the recommended strategy, teaching methods, or techniques. In terms of assessment and evaluation approaches, it was seen that traditional assessment and evaluation approaches were predominant.