Education Stakeholders’ Views on Controversial Issues in Terms of Null Curriculum

Abstract

This study aims to identify the controversial issues in Turkey based on the views of some education stakeholders and analyze the experiences of teachers in terms of those controversial issues. This study was designed in a qualitative research design. The participants of the study are 250 academics from the departments of educational sciences, maths and science, Turkish and social sciences, primary education, foreign languages and fine arts of universities; 26 form tutors, religious culture and ethics, Turkish, science, maths and English teachers employed in public schools in Eskişehir; and the representatives of 5 teacher unions. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with teachers and open ended questionnaires with academics and the representatives of teacher unions. Inductive analysis method was used to analyse all the data. The study revealed that the controversial issues which were identified by the help of education stakeholders were mostly not covered in elementary education curriculum and in teachers’ practices due to various reasons such as teacher approaches and competences, student approaches, parents, course books and the curriculum. In other words, the controversial issues could be named as the null curriculum itself.