The Constructivist Curriculum Reform in Turkey in 2004-In fact what is constructed?

Abstract

This article evaluates the curriculum reform implemented in Turkey in 2004 by the Justice and Development Party (AKP). The curriculum reform targeted primary school education and reorganized the curriculum for several primary school courses. The AKP declared that renewed curricula would replace the former behaviorist approach, which had been criticized for being supportive of rote learning and teacher-centered education, with a constructivist approach. Unlike the behaviorist approach, the constructivist approach favors student-centered education and gives students more active role in the learning process. The purpose of this article is to examine the "content" of education reorganized with the constructivist approach, rather than providing a merely pedagogical discussion on these approaches.

The critics of the reform argue that the major purpose of the reform has been to make educational content compatible with the neoliberal discourse and with the process of globalization, which will eventually result in the training of a qualified labor power necessary for the neoliberal economy. In this respect, the reform has played a role for strengthening the establishment of neoliberal discourse in Turkey's educational arena. This article explores how concepts and practices specific to the neoliberal discourse are constructed in the curriculum reform through comparative analysis of previous and renewed curricula for primary school Social Studies course. It also utilizes information gathered from the in-depth interviews conducted with the architects of the reform in order to explore its rationale. The article manifests that the curriculum reform in Turkey should be considered as a part of educational reform initiatives which have been simultaneously implemented in many developing countries throughout the world to integrate the neoliberal discourse in educational systems.