Comparison of the secondary school mathematics curriculum of Turkey and Greece

The purpose of this research is to compare the similarities and differences of the secondary school curriculum from 5th to 8th grade between Turkey and Greece which has an important place in the field of mathematics in its history. The research is descriptive which is designed in a general survey model. Curriculums were used as a data collection tool and analyzes were performed using the document analysis techniques. Both of curriculums and general information about Turkey and Greece were accessed from official websites of the countries. Turkey and Greece curriculum were compared about the structure, purpose, content, assessment and evaluation dimensions in the research. Learning areas, sub-learning areas, subject and achievements were addressed at each grade level which were examined in detail in the content dimension. Charts were used while the findings of the research were presented. When the research results are examined, mathematics curriculum is configured as a single document in Turkey. On the other hand, mathematics curriculum in Greece has also a detailed approach document which analyze the aim, general target, the basic concept of the interdisciplinary approach. Although the primary education is 3 years in Greece, Primary and secondary education in Turkey is 4 years. Both of the mathematics curriculum of the research are aimed to acquire problem solving ability to students and the place of the mathematics in real life. When we look at the total number of gains, we could determine that the mathematics curriculum in Greece states more total number of gains than Turkey. However, the total number of mathematics curriculum hours in Turkey has been remarked more than Greece. When the training program is observed it could be found that. Although Greece has focused on the history of the mathematics. It has not been given any emphasis to the history of mathematics in Turkey curriculum. The purpose of measurement and evaluation in both of curriculums which were compared, has a student centered approach. It has been concluded that measurement results are not evaluated separately in both countries on the contrary, they are process oriented. Furthermore, it has been observed that the measurement and evaluation dimension is more important in mathematics curriculum of Greece. In addition, similar and different aspects were explained in details about this countries curriculum and are presented some suggestions to researchers who would conduct research in this field.