Politics · Turkey · 1 hr ago
Turkey to begin shared school exams on November 11
Turkey’s Education Ministry will begin its Common Written Exam System on November 11, with shared written tests for selected grades and subjects.
This school year, it covers grades 5 to 7 and 9 to 11, including subjects such as Turkish, mathematics, science and English.
The exams will use an average of six to eight open-ended questions, and teachers can prepare two questions and change two drawn from a question pool.
The ministry says the system is meant to bring common standards to assessment and help schools analyse results and give students feedback.
Education expert Alaattin Dinçer argues that central questions could limit teachers’ professional judgment and fail to reflect differences in students’ learning and school conditions.
Parents at foreign private schools have also objected, saying students may study subjects in different languages or on different schedules and could be tested on material they have not yet covered.
They are asking for time to prepare and safeguards for students, while the first exams are due to go ahead on November 11.
Turkey’s first exams under the Ministry of National Education’s Common Written Exam System are scheduled for November 11.
The system aims to bring common standards to the preparation and assessment of school exams.
This school year, it will cover specified subjects in middle-school grades 5 to 7 and high-school grades 9 to 11.
Critics, including education expert Alaattin Dinçer and parents at foreign private schools, say the system may limit teachers’ professional independence and disadvantage students following different curricula.
The exams are expected to include an average of six to eight open-ended questions, with teachers allowed to prepare two and change two selected from the question pool.
- Who
- Turkey’s Ministry of National Education is introducing the system; students in specified middle- and high-school grades will take the exams.
- What
- The Common Written Exam System will use shared standards and a common question pool for school exams.
- When
- The first exams are scheduled for November 11.
- Where
- Turkey.
- Why
- The ministry aims to strengthen common assessment standards, evaluate students’ knowledge and skills more comprehensively, and improve education quality.
Ministry of National Education
Critics of the Common Written Exam System
Purpose
Ministry of National Education
The system aims to strengthen common assessment standards and improve the quality of education.
Critics of the Common Written Exam System
Dinçer says no scientific evidence has been given to justify the system.
Teacher role
Ministry of National Education
Teachers may prepare two questions and change two questions drawn from the pool.
Critics of the Common Written Exam System
Dinçer says centralised questions could reduce teachers to distributing exam papers and limit their pedagogical autonomy.
Fairness
Ministry of National Education
The system is intended to support common standards in assessment.
Critics of the Common Written Exam System
Parents at foreign private schools say differences in teaching language, calendars and curricula could disadvantage students.
Erzurum’s provincial education director Süleyman Ekici visited the Erzurum Assessment and Evaluation Centre to discuss the system.
The first exams under the Common Written Exam System are scheduled to take place.
- First exam date
- November 11
- Middle-school grades
- 5, 6 and 7
- High-school grades
- 9, 10 and 11
- Question format
- An average of 6–8 open-ended questions
- Teacher input
- Teachers may prepare 2 questions and change 2 questions drawn from the pool
3 sources
What people are saying
The teacher is detached from the assessment process in their classroom and reduced only to an ‘exam invigilator’ distributing central questions.
In a situation where the process is not equal, standardising assessment turns inequality into a chasm.
Our aim is not to exempt students from assessment obligations; it is to maintain a fair and pedagogically sound assessment system suited to the education they actually receive, the curricula they follow and the regulations in force.