New performance assessment system awaits Turkish teachers
Gönül Koca/Gülseven Özkan – ANKARA
A new performance assessment system is expected for Turkish teachers employed within the body of the Education Ministry, as the ministry has recently sent a draft by-law for the review of university education faculties.
In line with the draft by-law, all parties including parents, students, principals and colleagues will evaluate the teacher in question. In the current system, only the principal of the school is authorized to evaluate the teacher.
Seventy percent of their performance mark will be broken down into six parts. Twenty percent will be determined by the principal’s assessment, 15 percent will come from the assessment of other teachers in the same department, 10 percent will come from the assessment of other teachers at the school, 10 percent will be an assessment by parents of the students and the other 10 percent will be an assessment by students. The remaining five percent will come from a self-evaluation.
To assess the teacher, the principal will participate in one of the classes taught by the teacher once every semester, or twice a year. The relevant parties will log the performance assessments on the National Education Ministry’s Information Systems (MEBBİS) once a year during the specific time period.
The system will be valid for all public school teachers working from primary schools to high schools. The teachers will also take an exam every four years assessing their professional competence. This exam will make up 30 percent of their overall performance mark, with the overall mark ranging on a scale of A to D.
However, the draft by-law is unclear regarding the nature of the performance exam. “The results of the exam, if only conducted in a written format, will be announced on the [Education] Ministry’s website 30 days following the date of the exam at the latest,” it read. Therefore, experts have said they are unsure whether the exam will be in oral or written format.
Teachers who earn an overall mark of B, C or D will be exposed to face-to-face or in-service distance training, beginning with the ones who have the lowest grades. Following the relevant training, the teachers will resit the performance assessment, conducted by the provincial directorates of national education.
