From Turkish perspective to status of educational sciences and teacher education in university: The background, today and the future

Abstract

The status of educational sciences and schools of education at universities is quite low. The reasons why schools of education are at low status at universities are: (a) conflict between the culture of university and school of education; (b) conflict between the academic staff of education faculties and universities; (c) incompatibility of the characteristics of schools of education with those of universities; (d) universities do not perceive teacher education as their responsibility; (e) education is not perceived as a science; and (f) belief that the activities of schools of education are inefficient. There exist some practical issues indicating that the status of educational sciences at universities is low. However, those who are in opposition to educational sciences do not explicitly state and discuss their opinions in academic platforms, rather they directly apply them. The most remarkable reason of practices against educational sciences is mainly due to the lack of solidarity among schools of education and their limited attempts to communicate their problems to authorities. A discipline with a strong presence which has a professional organization may better address the problems in the field and struggle with the practices that are not in its favor.