Guidance classes in Turkish schools to introduce professions from a gender-based perspective

ISTANBUL

The class will also teach students to prepare their own curriculum vitae and career files, while also 'identify the personal qualifications that the profession they are interested in requires.'

The curriculum of the guidance and career planning classes in secondary schools has been renewed in a gender discriminative manner, daily Cumhuriyet has reported.

The revised program for the guidance and career planning classes states that students should be told of social gender roles and guided to make their choices accordingly.

“Social gender roles and gender-based prejudices in career choices should be mentioned to students and made to be taken into consideration when they choose their careers,” reads a part of the new curriculum.

The current elementary schools guidance program, which is being used for the guidance classes in secondary schools, will be lifted and the new program will start to be gradually implemented as of the coming school year. The class will be taught for one hour per week.

Within the scope of the professions and career planning part of the program, field trips to work places were added in order to allow students to get to know the professions closely.

The class will also teach students to prepare their own curriculum vitae and career files, while also “identify the personal qualifications that the profession they are interested in requires.”

This decision comes a few weeks after a country-wide debate broke out over Turkey’s National Education Council Dec. 8 decision to recommend the introduction of “Values Education” at preschool education institutions and compulsory religion classes during the first three years of primary school.

Religion classes are already compulsory from fourth grade, but the Council also recommended that the period of compulsory religion classes be increased from one to two hours per week in high schools. The Council’s decisions have been submitted to the Education Ministry as non-binding recommendations.