Peter Gardalits

E309 TMA 01 handout planner

1. Introduction:
This handout displays the differences and similarities between primary
education in Turkey and Japan with the aim of presenting the reader with a
succinct reflection on the ability of these countries to meet specific targets of
2030 Sustainable Development Goal 4

2. Primary Education facts about Turkey

( oECD, 2018) Adopted from Dreamstime, 2020)

(Adopted from Countryflag, 2020)

Primary Education in Turkey Inclusion Policies in Turkey

 Primary education is all citizens  UNICEF promotes
aged 6-12 (Wikipedia) empowerment of women and
 Implemented by the Ministry of girls (UNICEF, 2020)
National Education (OECD,
 2015)
 Centralised education system
 Subjects in Turkish, additional
languages taught: English,
French, German
 Teachers are required to obtain a
four year degree and 4 year
induction period to teach
3. Primary Education facts about Japan
from Countryflag, 2020)
(Adopted from Paid Interships and Scholarships, 2020)
 In 2014, the Ministry of
National Education introduces
(TECs) collaboratively with
UNICEF (Cerna, 2019) 
 Remedial Education Programme
is introduced (Unicef, 2020)
 Promoting Integration of Syrian
Children to the Turkish
Education System (PICTES)
 The New Teacher Programme in
2011
(OECD, 2018) (Adopted
Primary Education in Japan
 Primary education compulsory
for all citizens aged 6-12  Convention on the Rights of
 Implemented and supervised by
the Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology (UNESCO Institute
of Statistics, 2017)
 Ranks as the second lowest in
autonomy, highly centralized
education system (Jones, 2011)  
 Separate subjects are taught in
Japanese, English has been
compulsory for 4th and 5th
graders once a week since 2011
(Chin Leong, 2016)
 TEachers are required to
complete a four-year training
programme including a post-
grad mandatory teaching
practicum (OECD, 2015)
Inclusion Policies in Japan
 Japan signs The United Nations
Persons with Disabilities in
2007 (UNHRC, 2020)
 government revises The Basic
Act for Persons with Disabilities
in 2011 (UN, 1970)
in June, 2013, the national
government passed the Act for
Eliminating Discrimination
against Persons with Disabilities
 In 2013, the Second Basic Plan
for the Promotion of Education
was drawn up (Japan for
Sustainability, 2016)
4. Reaching the SDG

(Image: IsGlobal, 2020)

Target 4.1

By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality
primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning
outcomes 

Target 4.2

By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood
development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for
primary education

Target 4.c

By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including

through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries,
especially least developed countries and small island developing States

(IMAGE: UNDP, 2019)

Despite the UN’s initiative aiming to achieve “inclusive and equitable quality
education” and to “promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” by 2030
(UN, 2020), Turkey performs below the OECD average in PISA (Education
Policy Outlook, 2015). SDG indicator 4.1.1 reveals that, in 2011, the proportion
of pupils of both sexes in Turkey who have achieved minimum proficiency
level in mathematics in grades 2 and 3 was only 51%, but only a slight growth
to 57% was recorded by 2015, which only accounts for a 6% growth in a 4-year
time span. This clearly shows that, provided current variables affecting growth
remain in place, the proportion in subject is expected to level off at 79.5% by
2030, which is 20.5% lower than the target rate. Despite the fact that Turkey has
been tightly working together with UNICEF, and numerous policies listed
above have been enacted in recent years in order to aid disadvantaged, potential
obstacles to reaching equity can be accounted to mismanagement of system-
level policies. It is also notable that, as well as Turkey having the all time-low
of GDP devoted to education institutions, Turkish schools have the lowest level
of autonomy over curriculum and assessment.
This decline trend is also reflected across Turkey’s PISA exclusion indicators,
showing an ascending curve for “within-school exclusion rates” between 2003,
(0%) and 2015 ( 0.58%) (Brzyksa, 2018).
0.70%
0.60%
0.50%
Within-school
0.40% exclusion rates
(%) between 2003
0.30% and 2015 PISA
0.20% cycles IN TRUKEY

0.10%
0.00%
2003 2006 2009 2012 2015

The above mentioned facts obviously explain why SDG 4 is unlikely to have
been achieved by 2030.
 (IMAGE: OXFORD
LEARNING, 2010)
In Japan, however, immense progress has been made towards achieving SDG 4
by the target date. SDG 4.1.1 index indicated 93.2% of highly achieving pupils
among both sexes in 2011 and 95% in 2015 (United Nations Statistics Division,
2019), which is a 2% growth in 4 years. These findings suggest Japan is going
to have met the target by the set date. It is also worth nothing that Japan is
among the top PISA 2012 performers in mathematics, science, reading with
constant improvements recorded in each cycle. Despite the Japanese highly
centralised system, the country proud itself to retain the highest level of
autonomy among OECD countries regarding curricula and student assessment
policies. Notwithstanding a low GDP share devoted to educational institutions,
private funding indicates a higher share than the OECD average. Success is
partially accounted to the Asian nation aiming to secure talented, motivated,
qualified and resourceful teachers to provide students with skills to face the
global market. Besides, funds have been allocated to carry out measures
introduced by the Basic Plan for the Promotion of Education (Japan for
Sustainability, 2016).

Japan’s within-school exclusion rates are shockingly low, with 0% in 4

preceding PISA cycles, excluding only as many as 315 students by 2015
(0.3%). The presence of SEN in Japan is meaningless in light of overall
statistics (Brzyska, 2018).
 0.30%

0.25%
Within-school
0.20%
exclusion rates (%)
0.15% between 2003 and
2015 PISA cycles IN
0.10%
JAPAN
0.05%

0.00%
2003 2006 2009 2012 2015

These figures in subject are proportionately reflected across the rest of the
SDG4 indicators for both countries, as far as revealed data is concerned,
showing commensurate inclining trends for Japan and declining trends for
Turkey as aiming towards the desired target goal.

5. Sources so far

Brzyska, B. (2018) ‘Trends in exclusion rates for students with special educational needs
within PISA’, Oxford review of education. Routledge, 44(5), pp. 633–650. doi:
10.1080/03054985.2018.1496907

Cerna, L. (2019), "Refugee education: Integration models and practices in OECD countries",
OECD Education Working Papers, No. 203, OECD Publishing, Paris,
https://doi.org/10.1787/a3251a00-en.

 Chin Leong Patrick Ng (2016) Primary school English reform in Japan: policies, progress
and challenges, Current Issues in Language Planning, 17:2, 215-225, DOI:
10.1080/14664208.2016.1147118)

Countryflags (2020). Japan flag icon. [online] Available at:

https://www.countryflags.com/en/japan-flag-icon.html [Accessed 28 Oct. 2020].

Countryflags (2020). Turkey flag image. [online] Available at:

https://www.countryflags.com/en/turkey-flag-image.html [Accessed 28 Oct. 2020]

Delegation of the European Union in Turkey (2017), EU and Turkish Ministry of National
Education Launch €300 Million Project to Improve Syrian Children’s Access to Education.,
Available at https://www.avrupa.info.tr/en/pr/eu-and-turkish-ministry-national-education-
launch-eu300- million-project-improve-syrian-childrens (Accessed on 8/3/2019)
Dreamstime (2020) Turkish Ministry Of Education Editorial Logo Vector Illustration
Editorial Stock Image - Illustration of egitim, symbol: 168841219. [online] Available at:
https://www.dreamstime.com/turkish-ministry-education-editorial-logo-vector-illustration-
turkish-ministry-education-editorial-logo-vector-illustration-image168841219 [Accessed 28 /
10/ 2020]

Ikeshita, H. (2019) ‘Japanese public library services for dyslexic children’, Journal of
Librarianship and Information Science. London, England: SAGE Publications, 52(2), pp.
096100061882387–492. doi: 10.1177/0961000618823871.

ISGlobal (2020) Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote
lifelong learning opportunities for all. [online] Available at:
https://www.isglobal.org/en/-/sdg-4-ensure-inclusive-and-equitable-quality-education-and-
promote-lifelong-learning-opportunities-for-all.

Jones, R. (2011), "Education Reform in Japan", OECD Economics Department Working

Papers, No. 888, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/5kg58z7g95np-en.

Kitchen, H., et al. (2019), "The Turkish education system", in OECD Reviews of Evaluation
and Assessment in Education: Student Assessment in Turkey, OECD Publishing, Paris,
https://doi.org/10.1787/71ee93b4-en.

 Kitchen, H., et al. (2019), OECD Reviews of Evaluation and Assessment in Education:
Student Assessment in Turkey, OECD Reviews of Evaluation and Assessment in Education,
OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/5edc0abe-en.

OECD (2013) Education Policy Outlook: Turkey OECD Publishing,

Parishttp://www.oecd.org/education/EDUCATION%20POLICY%20OUTLOOK
%20TURKEY_EN.pdf , Accessed: 27.10.2020

OECD (2015), Education Policy Outlook 2015 : Making Reforms Happen (Summary in
Japanese), OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/aa5652ab-ja.

OECD (2015), Education Policy Outlook 2015 : Making Reforms Happen (Summary in
Turkish), OECD Publishing, Paris, Accessed 27.10. 2020 https://doi.org/10.1787/56d6642e-
tr.

OECD (2018), Education Policy in Japan: Building Bridges towards 2030, Reviews of
National Policies for Education, OECD Publishing, Paris,
https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264302402-en.

Oxford Learning (2010) What Does Math Literacy Mean? [online] Available at:

https://www.oxfordlearning.com/what-does-math-literacy-mean/ [Accessed 29 Oct. 2020]

Paid Internships and Scholarships (2020). STUDY in JAPAN - All opportunities. [online] Paid
Internships and scholarships. Available at: https://payyourintern.com/study-in-japan-all-
opportunities/ [Accessed 28 Oct. 2020].
UNDP (2019) Goal 4: Quality education. [online] Available at:
https://www.undp.org/content/seoul_policy_center/en/home/sustainable-development-
goals/goal-4-quality-education.html [Accessed 29 Oct. 2020]

UNESCO Institute of Statistics (2017) Technical Cooperation Group on the Indicators for
SDG4 Available at http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/countryprofiles/JP.pdf
Accessed 27.10.2020

UNICEF (2020) Quality Inclusive Education Available at

https://www.unicef.org/turkey/en/quality-inclusive-education Accessed on 27.10.2020

United Nations (1970) Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities Available at
https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/wp-
content/uploads/sites/15/2019/11/Japan_Basic-Act-for-Persons-with-Disabilities.pdf)
Accessed on 27/10/2020

United Nations (2020) Goal 4 | Department of Economic and Social Affairs. [online]

Available at: https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal4

United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (2020) Committee on the
Rights of the Persons with Disabilities Available at
https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/crpd/pages/conventionrightspersonswithdisabilities.aspx
Accessed 27/10/2020

United Nations Statistics Division (2019). — SDG Indicators. [online] Un.org. Available at:
https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/indicators/database/ Accessed: 28/10/2020

QUESTIONS:

1. Is there any information I have missed out that should be in the

handout?
2. Am I making fair and effective comparisons between the two
countries?
3. Have I planned to include appropriate sufficient graphics (such as
photos, drawings, maps, graphs, charts, tables or diagrams) to
convey information meaningfully and give the handout some visual
impact?
4. Are the sources sufficiently reliable?
5. Does the plan begin to meet the assessment criteria?