An analysis of the curriculum and instruction departments in Turkey and the postgraduate theses written in this branch from various aspects

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the Curriculum and Instruction offering postgraduate education in Turkey and the subjects of postgraduate and doctorate dissertations written in this field between 1974 and 2017. The lectures given in 28 universities with postgraduate and doctorate programs, the academic personnel, and the terms of acceptance to and graduation from the postgraduate education were taken into consideration. Written until 2017, totally 1599 theses (1162 postgraduate theses and 437 doctorate dissertations) were examined. Among 28 universities, the ones employing highest number of academic personnel were determined to be Gazi, Middle East Technical, and Hacettepe Universities. The most frequently offered courses were found to be related with “Curriculum Development” and “Curriculum Assessment”. The general average of score required to pass to these phase was determined to be minimum 2.00 for postgraduate and 2.50 for doctorate. Examining the theses from the aspects of themes, it was determined that the fields, on which the theses were written most frequently, were “Curriculum”, “Approach, strategy, and method”, “Attitude and value education”, and “Thinking Education and Learning Strategies”. Based on the study results, it is recommended to carry out the qualitative studies on this subject on a wider sample.