Reactions to the regulation of the Teaching Profession Law continue to come. The unions are reacting to the exam requirement in the articles related to the specialist and head teacher in the regulation. While calling for seniority to be taken into account, not exams, for specialist teacher and head teacher positions, Educators Trade Union (Eğitim-Bir-Sen) stated that a criterion must be applied for career steps.
In the Teaching Profession Law, it is stated that teachers who have completed 10 years will be given the title of "specialist", and those who have completed 10 years in specialist teaching, that is, 20 years in teaching, will be given the title of "head teacher" if they are successful in the exam. Educators, on the other hand, reacted to the expert teaching and head teacher system and stated that seniority should be taken as a basis, not the exam, in the teaching profession, while Eğitim-Bir-Sen noted that a criterion should be applied for career ladder transition.
“THE EXAM SHOULD BE AVOIDED, LOOK AT THE TIME WORKED AS A TEACHER”
Specialist and head teacher Selahattin Dolgun, Deputy Chairman of the Turkish Education, Training and Science Services Branch Public Employees Union (Türk-Egitim-Sen), stated that the exam applied in recruitment should be abolished.
“By counting every year spent in teaching, every teacher who has completed 10 years should be an specialist, and every teacher who has completed 20 years should be a head teacher. In addition, teachers with a master's degree should be specialist teachers, and teachers with a doctorate should be head teachers,” he said.
“EVERY TEACHER IS AN EXPERT”
Anatolian Education Union (AES) Chairman Mehmet Alper Öğretici underlined that there should be no paid or contracted employees in the teaching profession, and stated that the 'Teaching Profession Law' will not make any economic contribution to teachers who have not completed 10 years with the final version. Öğretici said, “Training and exams are foreseen in order to increase the additional payments of teachers who have completed a certain level of seniority. In teaching, which is already a specialized profession, every teacher is an expert. Therefore, there is a need for regulations that will increase the income of every teacher without the need for titles. After the general arrangement to be made, our colleagues who have completed 8 years must receive the compensation stipulated for the specialist teacher, and each teacher who has completed 15 years must receive the compensation prescribed for the head teacher. For teachers with a master's degree, 8 years should not be required, and for teachers who have doctorate degrees, 15 years should not be required.”
THE EXAM APPLIED IN 2006 WAS CANCELED AND THE RIGHT GAINED COULD NOT BE USED
Latif Selvi, Secretary General of Eğitim-Bir-Sen, stated that the exam system to be applied is not the only one, and noted that a criterion must be applied for career advancement. Selvi said, “Career steps were previously implemented within the framework of Law No. 1739. There was a quota limitation in the exam administered in 2006. There is no quota limitation in the law that is planned to be implemented now. In the previous exam, there was a limit of 60 points, now it has been increased to 70 points. Before exam was applied directly, now it will be applied after the training. The Constitutional Court partially canceled the exam administered in 2006, except for teachers who have a doctorate in their field, others could not benefit from this exam. In the system applied at the career ladder, if the exam is abolished, another criterion should be introduced in its place.”