Problems and solutions in the adaptation of foreing students to the education system

The aim of this study is to determine the problems faced by students, teachers and school administrators in the adaptation of the foreign students studying in secondary schools in Kastamonu province to the education system and to identify solution proposals related to these problems. For this purpose, school administrators, teachers and students in Kastamonu were consulted. This study is a qualitative research in the descriptive research model. Face-to-face interview method was used through Multiple Holistic Case Study. The data were obtained from the interviews with 20 foreign students studying in 4 secondary schools also eight teachers and eight administrators in Kastamonu province in 2017-2018 academic year. Interviews were conducted through semi-structured interview form prepared by the researcher. Descriptive analysis method was used to analyze the data obtained from the audio recorded interviews. According to the research results, it became evident that foreign students' poor command of Turkish is the most important problem encountered by both students, teachers and the principals. For this reason, these students fail academically and are initially excluded by their friends. With the increase in the number of foreign students in schools, the incidence of violence and gang involvement increases among students. It was found that the absenteeism rate and dropout rate of these students are high and the families of these students are in financial difficulties. It was indicated that the issue of foreign students who didn't undergo a medical examination and vaccinations are also among other problems. It was observed that the enrollment of foreign students in the underage ranking classes during the equivalence procedures caused some problems, too. The mass of foreign students in some particular schools has increased the problems and caused new ones.