A study on the education and teaching of Turkish to bilingual Turkish children in Belgium within the scope of innovative education and training practices (example of Gent)

Children of Turkish origin living in Belgium experience various problems within the education system due to their different language and cultural habits. The fact that the mother tongue and the language of instruction are not known sufficiently are the primary educational problems of children of Turkish origin. Children of Turkish origin in Belgium are in a position where their mother tongue and community language are different from each other, and in this case it is important that they learn their mother tongue Turkish and also the language of instruction, Flemish / French. However, since their living spaces are bilingual and bi-cultural, when they reach the age of six, they cannot reach the level of language and thought reached by monolingual children in Dutch. Children of Turkish origin are struggling between two languages and cultures. Due to adaptation and communication problems, they cannot achieve the educational success of their Belgian peers within the education system. Turkish and Turkish Culture classes, which have been removed by the Belgian Government since 2016 in the Flemish region of Belgium, pose a problem for children of Turkish origin who live in the Flemish region and want to improve their mother tongue. It is of great importance for the children of Turkish origin in the Flemish region to develop their Turkish effectively. Because, according to the researches, children of Turkish origin get their mother tongue primarily from their families and close families and it seems that they make several mistakes in the rules of spelling, pronunciation, etc… Studies to identify and solve the problems that bilingual Turkish children experience in their mother tongue are increasing day by day. In these studies, it was determined that bilingual Turkish children made mistakes in written expressions in their mother tongue and had difficulty in expressing themselves. Children who have difficulties in expressing themselves in their mother tongue also have difficulties in school language and start their education life with a low self-confidence. Even though the ethnic inequality existing in the education system of Belgium is tried to be eliminated, it is a problem for foreign students to achieve the same success rate with their Belgian peers in the education system. At the same time, the fact that most schools approach foreign languages with their prohibitive attitudes causes these children to feel unwell at school. Today, different studies are carried out for the acceptance of the mother tongue in schools, especially in the Flemish region. Having Turkish and Turkish Culture lessons after school hours will improve students' native language and contribute to the improvement of their Flemish language. Since the teachers could not be appointed from Turkey to the Flemish region, volunteers continue to teach Turkish in associations and mosques. But these lessons are often far from the lessons taught in schools, and with almost no contact with teachers, school principals and the education system of the country of residence. Based on these problems, the aim of the research is to reveal whether Turkish lessons will be a problem in the Flemish region when they progress with the same education program given in the Flemish schools of Belgium. These lessons will be taught by a teacher of Turkish origin who has been trained in Belgium. At the same time, it is to show whether Turkish lessons given in schools will reflect on the educational success of children of Turkish origin and how effective they will be in speaking the language of the country they live in more properly. Based on this context, the subject of the research is "A Study on the Education and Teaching of Turkish to Bilingual Turkish Children in Belgium within the Scope of Innovative Education and Training Practices (Gent Example)". In the study, it is assumed that the students of Turkish origin, their parents, school administration and teachers, who constitute the study group, give sincere and correct answers to the measurement tools applied during the research. The sample of the study consists of eighteen students of Turkish origin who study in the third and fourth grades of Daltonschool De Lotus primary school in Ghent, Belgium, in the Flemish region of Belgium. Within the framework of the research, domestic and foreign literature was scanned and previous studies on the subject were examined. The scope and content of the research was carried out in accordance with the qualitative research method. Qualitative data were obtained as a result of interviews and observations with students, parents, school management and classroom teachers between 5 November 2018-20 June 2019. The interview records, which are the qualitative data of the research, were analyzed using content analysis and categorical analysis from content analysis types. With the observation echnique, the differences reflected in the students' school environment and changes in the exam scores were recorded systematically for eight months, the data were coded during the analysis, then the categories describing the codes at a general level were determined and the findings were interpreted. Keywords: Belgium, Immigration, Mother Tongue, Bilingualism, Turkish Teaching, Education Success