Comparison of the Inspection Criteria for Turkish Preschool Institutions with International Accreditation Standards

Abstract

The evaluation of preschool education institutions in Turkey is conducted by two different bodies: The Ministry of National Education (MoNE) and The Ministry of Family and Social Policies (MoFSP). To date, there does not appear any attempt to designate the compliance of MoNE and MoFSP evaluation criteria with international quality standards. This study takes a step forward to this direction in order to put forth the areas in need of special considerations. This study hence aims to determine the extent to which MoNE and MoFSP criteria used for the inspection of Turkish preschool institutions comply with international accreditation standards. Among the qualitative approaches, document analysis method was employed for this study. In this regard, inspection documents prepared by MoNE and MoFSP were examined with reference to Council of International Schools’ (CIS) accreditation standards. The analysis suggests that the highest compliance rate was seen in the school management aspect, whereas the lowest compliance rate was seen in the school culture and partnerships for learning aspect for MoNE and management and leadership aspect for MoFSP. Further, preschool education institutions are particularly lacking in multiculturalism and internationalism dimensions in the inspection criteria. Considering the sociological conditions of Turkey with almost 3.5 million Syrian refugees, preschool institutions affiliated with MoNE and MoFSP need to incorporate internationalism/multiculturalism aspects into their philosophy and objectives.