Students in the Master’s program in Teacher Education at Bilkent are charting new territory not only for themselves, but for Turkey as well. A group of 24 students comprise what is Bilkent's, and Turkey's first program designed to graduate high school teachers who are expected to be leaders in their profession.
Coming from a variety of disciplines, students in the program focus on the teaching of one of four disciplines: Turkish Language and Literature, English, Biology, and History. Their full program includes teacher education courses, subject area courses, extensive observation and teaching practice in leading schools in Ankara, İstanbul, İzmir and the United States.
Sezin Baran, Burcu Karapıcak, and Ahu Ünsal, three MA students, spoke about why they entered the program and their impressions of the program. Sezin explained that she had always considered teaching. But she was very impressed with the Bilkent MA program when she read about it in the newspaper and saw the television presentation with Ali Doğramacı. She was excited about the creativity of the program and the possibilities for the future. As all three of the students agreed, not all programs offer the opportunity to observe and practice in such schools as BUPS, TED or Robert College. And they all expressed that eight weeks in American high schools was one of the most attractive aspects of the program for them.
The students are looking forward to being teachers. After studying and observing various teaching techniques and classroom management methods they are eager to create models of their own and put them into practice. Ahu explains that "in this program, you feel respect for teachers". Burcu adds that "it is a very professional program" and at the same time we feel like a family.
Teaching high school is not for everyone. But if you think it might be for you, the Graduate School of Education invites you to attend one of the information sessions presented the second Wednesday of every month. The next meeting will be on Wednesday, March 14 at 12 p.m. in the B building, room B207.
