The evaluation of secondary education philosophy teaching in Turkey

The purpose of this study is to determine the status of practices and activities of philosophy education at secondary school in Turkey by evaluating them and to find out the needs. The model of is the model scanning within the scope of field research which is sociological model. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected through the the benefit of method variation in the study.The practice of the study was carried out in two steps. In the first one, 68 teachers and 73 students were interviewed. In the second one, 500 teachers and 1.500 students were given questionnaires. The interview form for both teachers and students was used as a data collection instrument and an evaluation questionnaire of teaching philosophy was also employed for both teachers and students. Descriptive analysis was employed to analyse the data obtained through interviews. Mann Whitney U, Kruskal Wallis, variance analysis (anova) and percentage, frequency and means were benefited for the solution of the data obtained through questionnaires. The data collected were solved within the framework of main and sub problems the findings obtained were described and evaluated.The following was reached in the study;Teachers indicated that the curriculum of philosophy teaching is inadequate in guiding teachers. They have negative ideas concerning the realizability of the objectives and behaviors of philosophy teaching. They think that the curriculum is not up to date, the knowledge load is too much and that the dimension inquiry is not adequate enough. Besides, they drew attention to the fact that they have a problem with the order of teaching the units. The teachers interviewed in the study expressed that some leading intellects and some major views in our history of thought should be included and stressed that the course books and teaching materials used are inadequate quantitatively and qualitatively. Depending on the thoughts of teachers, the most frequently applied test techniques in teaching philosophy are classical written and test type exams. No difference was found concerning the genders of teachers, the types of the schools they work, the institution they graduated, their working experience, the development level of the city they work and the in-service training they took. However, a significant difference was found among their views over the status of arranging activities out of class. Further, teachers expressed that university entrance exam has a negative effect on philosophy teaching.Although students stated that the course of philosophy was not prepared depending on the interests and needs of theirs, they stressed that philosophy is a necessity. They also stated that philosophy teaching is inadequate and it is not up to date in terms of content. They indicated that they do not think of choosing a profession concerning philosophy, adding that the courses be taught through the method of active teaching. Students are of the opinion that philosophy teaching contributes to their thinking skills. They have an idea that Turkish intellects should be included in the content. They stated that the courses were mostly taught through straight teaching method and they paid more attention to test type exams frequently. They thought that course books are not adequate enough and put an emphasize on the fact that course books should be related to university entrance exam. No difference was found concerning the genders of students and the development level of the city they study. Whereas, a significant difference was found among their views over the type of school they attend and the field they study. Also, students stated that there is a correlation between the course of philosophy and university entrance exam.