Abstract:
In recent years, the curriculum programs have been changed dramatically in
Turkey, as part of a comprehensive reform initiative. The history curriculum for
secondary schools was subjected to this transformation as well. This study
examines the curriculum reform in terms of teacher autonomy, a key-concept for
the comprehension and improvement of the teachers’ role in education. The study
aims to analyze whether the change in the curriculum has brought any significant
innovation regarding the teacher autonomy. According to study’s findings, the
new history curriculum fails to construct a new framework that is able to provide
to teachers a broad sphere of power and autonomy which could allow and
encourage them to assume a greater role in the curriculum planning and
implementation. This situation is evidently in contradiction with the main
reform’s goals such as the development of student-centered teaching methods
focusing on the needs, interests and demands of the students and considering their
diversities.
