The concept of autonomy is defined in the online dictionary of the Turkish Language Association (TDK) as the right and state of a community or an organization to govern itself freely according to the laws it has created, and as a philosophical term, it is defined as the right of a person or a community to set its own laws (TDK, 2024).
Teacher autonomy is a concept frequently used in both scientific research and practical policies to understand and define the role and authority of teachers in the education system (Öztürk, 2011, p.83).
When examined in general, it can be said that the common emphasis in many different definitions and evaluations of teacher autonomy is on the ability of teachers to reflect their personal preferences on their teaching and to shape their lessons. Within the boundaries of the classroom, teachers dominate the environment. However, it does not seem possible to consider teacher autonomy only in the context of classroom dominance. It is emphasized that teachers now play an active role in the organization of educational environments, curricula and administrative activities, especially in western countries and around the world, with constantly updated programs and educational environments. This situation indicates that autonomy is also important outside the classroom (Kılınç et al. 2018, p.80).
When the findings of the study titled ‘Examining teachers’ views on teacher autonomy' by Kılınç et al. were examined, it was found that teachers associated teacher autonomy with teaching processes, teacher's feeling of freedom and school climate, and they interpreted this concept as having field knowledge, student-centered teaching, working to increase academic achievement, participating in decision-making processes related to the classroom and school, gaining satisfaction from the profession, cooperation and collaboration among the departments in the school, receiving support from the school administration and having high motivation for teaching; In other words, according to the participants, an autonomous teacher performs student-centered teaching, carries out practices to increase academic achievement at school, participates in the decisions made about his/her school and classroom, achieves satisfaction from the profession, and performs the teaching profession with high motivation (Kılınç et al. 2018,s.89).
Teacher autonomy basically means that teachers have a certain amount of authority and freedom in matters related to their profession. This area of authority and freedom includes issues such as the ability of teachers to make some important decisions about their work as ‘professionals’, to have a say in the organization of their working environment, and to participate in the planning, development and management of education. In this sense, the different dimensions of teacher autonomy can be categorized into three main groups (Öztürk, 2011, p.86):
-Planning and implementation of instruction,
-Teachers' participation in important educational decisions and school management,
-Improving teachers' professional knowledge and competencies.
Among these dimensions, planning and implementation of instruction includes the selection and planning of instructional content, the selection and planning of instructional methods and materials, and the training and evaluation of students.
In terms of this dimension, in primary and secondary education in Turkey, the determination of the curriculum, which means the content of instruction, is within the scope of central government policies and it is difficult to say that teachers have a say in this matter. The Education Program for the Turkish Century, which was approved and entered into force in May-2024, was prepared by a group of academics and teachers ideologically close to the ruling bloc, without the participation of education faculties, education unions, education-related civil society organizations, teachers and the education public as a whole.
The selection of teaching methods and materials did not leave any open space for teachers due to the ‘teacher's guidebooks’ that had been in use for a long time. The guidebooks included all the stages of the lesson, including how to enter the classroom, how to explain the subject, which poem or aphorism to choose, where to stop and ask questions, at which point in the lesson students should participate and how to evaluate.
In the TMM, in the ‘Learning-Teaching Experiences’ section, there is a lot of imperative lesson processing in the form of ‘...done, told, shown, created' in a way that does not look like similar practices in the abolished guidebooks, and the expressions such as ...can be done, told, shown, created, ...can be done, told, shown, created' are found in the evaluation section at the end of the lesson. For example;
In the Primary School Social Studies Program (P.14-15), ‘The pre-assessment process is as follows: Students are asked what they have learned in the life science lesson and a mind map is created by the class about what they have learned in this lesson. Small group work is done with the students and what they have learned in the life studies course is presented in different ways (writing, visuals, etc.).
Students are given worksheets in which they can indicate their areas of interest and areas in which they think they are talented.
Open-ended questions are asked about classroom and school rules.
Bridging process; It is aimed to provide students with a general idea about the social studies course through materials such as newspaper news, cartoons, posters, photographs, etc. that may be related to the social studies course.
Students are asked to draw pictures about their individual characteristics. By talking about the pictures, it is pointed out that we all have different individual characteristics.
A discussion is initiated by giving examples or visuals of situations that may occur when school or classroom rules are not followed.
Learning-teaching practices; SB.4.1.2 Drama activities or educational games are played in which students can realize their interests, strengths and developable sides, and express their likes and dislikes in their lives. Activities should be structured in a way that supports students to develop a positive self-perception. Activities should include activities that enable students to reveal their own characteristics first and then the positive characteristics of their classmates. The activities can be evaluated through observation forms.
Similar pre-assessment processes, bridging and learning-teacher experiences in the Social Studies Program are also found in other curricula.
Teaching-learning practices may vary in every region of the country, in different districts of provinces, even in different schools in the provincial center, depending on the environment of the school, the physical space of the school and the course materials in the classroom, the level of the students in the classroom, and the teacher's planning and execution of the lesson. Therefore, a standardized teaching-learning practice may have the effect of narrowing the teacher's room for maneuver.
The upbringing and evaluation of students is a matter that should be under the direct authority of the teacher. However, even in this regard, it will be seen that it is not possible to talk about teacher autonomy due to the various achievement assessment exams applied on a provincial, district, school and country basis and the fact that these exams are one of the obstacles that prevent teachers from continuing their teaching activities as they wish.
The second dimension of teacher autonomy, teachers' participation in important educational decisions and school management, can be evaluated in a dual way. It can be said that teachers participate in school administration through various boards and commissions that exist in the school environment. In the first place, there is participation on paper in boards and commissions such as the teachers' council, committee of teachers, purchasing commission, canteen commission, etc., but these boards and commissions are actually managed by school administrators and civil servants.
Outside of these boards and commissions, it is not possible for teachers to directly participate or have a say in various decisions related to education, such as school enrollment and admission, educational activities to be carried out at the district and provincial level, elective courses to be taught in schools, and the determination of education regions.
The third and most important dimension of teacher autonomy is the development of teachers‘ professional knowledge and competencies. The development of professional knowledge and competencies is related to both the education received in faculties of education and the in-service training provided after appointment to the profession. It is known that the curricula of pre-service education faculties are determined by universities and faculties. In this sense, it is not possible to expect universities and faculties of education, which do not have administrative and financial autonomy, to train teachers with professional autonomy. After being appointed to the profession, teachers are given a training called ’Candidacy Training', in which they do not cooperate sufficiently with non-governmental organizations and universities that carry out scientific projects related to education and training, and are then given standardized in-service training. In short, teachers do not have the right to choose their pre-service and in-service training.
In this sense, teacher autonomy emerges as one of the most important phenomena that should be taken into account in the development of teachers' roles in education and training activities and in the education system in general. One of the most basic conditions for teachers to fulfill their duties and responsibilities properly is to provide them with sufficient authority and freedom in their professional activities. Without providing them with a wide range of autonomy in selecting and organizing the content, methods and materials of teaching, in their participation in school management, and in the development of their professional knowledge and competencies, they cannot be expected to play an effective role in the development of teaching, and it would be unrealistic to expect them to contribute at a high level to the improvement of educational and working conditions in schools.
Sources
-Ali Çağatay KILINÇ, Emine BOZKURT, Hafize İLHAN. (2018) AN INVESTIGATION OF TEACHER OPINIONS ON TEACHER AUTONOMY
-(2011) A THEORETICAL REVIEW ON TEACHER AUTONOMY. Electronic Journal of Social Sciences
-SOCIAL STUDIES CURRICULUM (2024).TYMM