Decentralization as an Educational Planning Strategy in Turkish Education System

Abstract

<p>The aim of this study is to examine the policies of decentralization which guide the planning<br />of Turkish education system and which are involved in Development Plans of Turkey. The<br />sample of study is composed of ten development plans for 5 years which have been published<br />between the year of 1963 and 2014. Development plans were reached upon the website of<br />Ministry of Development. Data of the study were collected via document review and were<br />analyzed by using content analysis. As a result of the analysis of education policies in<br />development plans, it cannot be said that there is a decentralization policy which is adopted in<br />planning the Turkish Education System. In development plans, there are only objectives and<br />strategies that point out possible decentralization policies. Decentralization policies in<br />development plans are determined to be under the category of deconcentration and delegation<br />in terms of extent of execution. Based on the results of the study, it is suggested that<br />developing and executing decentralization policies should take more place in the plans for<br />Turkish Education System in order to be able to meet educational needs which result from<br />regional inequalities. The extent of decentralization should be decided by taking into<br />consideration the need that decentralization would respond rather than the delegated and<br />deconcentrated units.</p>