Decentralization as an Educational Planning Strategy in Turkish Education System

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the policies of decentralization which guide the planning
of Turkish education system and which are involved in Development Plans of Turkey. The
sample of study is composed of ten development plans for 5 years which have been published
between the year of 1963 and 2014. Development plans were reached upon the website of
Ministry of Development. Data of the study were collected via document review and were
analyzed by using content analysis. As a result of the analysis of education policies in
development plans, it cannot be said that there is a decentralization policy which is adopted in
planning the Turkish Education System. In development plans, there are only objectives and
strategies that point out possible decentralization policies. Decentralization policies in
development plans are determined to be under the category of deconcentration and delegation
in terms of extent of execution. Based on the results of the study, it is suggested that
developing and executing decentralization policies should take more place in the plans for
Turkish Education System in order to be able to meet educational needs which result from
regional inequalities. The extent of decentralization should be decided by taking into
consideration the need that decentralization would respond rather than the delegated and
deconcentrated units.