A meeting was organized by Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University (MAKÜ) Faculty of Education to develop cooperation in education.
A meeting was held in the MAKÜ Senate Hall with the aim of developing the existing and future collaborations with pre-school, primary, secondary, and high schools affiliated with MAKÜ and the Directorate of National Education. The meeting was attended by Rector Prof. Dr. Adem Korkmaz, Vice Rectors Prof. Dr. Durmuş Acar, Prof. Dr. Mehmet Karaca, Dean of the Faculty of Education Prof. Dr. Firdevs Savi Çakar, Burdur Provincial Director of National Education Nesrin Kakırman, Deputy Directors of Burdur Provincial Directorate of National Education, academicians, and school administrators.
The opening speech of the meeting was made by the Dean of the Faculty of Education, Prof. Dr. Firdevs Savi Çakar. In her speech, Çakar said; “Our university has an updated protocol with the Directorate of National Education within the framework of cooperation in education. We also have ongoing studies before that. In this meeting, it is to evaluate these ongoing studies, especially to evaluate ourselves within the framework of the opinions and suggestions of our school administrators within the scope of the teaching practice continued by different faculties, and to continue our studies in the field of more qualified and more effective teacher training by taking your opinions.”
Continuing her speech, Dean Prof. Dr. Çakar, who made a presentation about the studies carried out so far and the cooperation studies to be carried out in the future, said: “As the Faculty of Education, we are currently sending students to teaching practice in 11 programs. In the past term, approximately 1,090 of our students were in the schools of the Ministry of National Education in 43 schools. As MAKÜ, our cooperation studies with our Directorate of National Education continue and will continue with different projects.”
Then, Provincial Director of National Education Nesrin Kakırman started her speech by thanking MAKÜ for their support since she took office. In her speech, Kakırman said; “Our work with the university will continue to accelerate in the future. Especially in the spring term, our personal and professional training under the name of professional development in the field of teaching will gain some speed. When I visit schools, especially in disadvantaged schools, I witness how this work serves a noble purpose as I see our students and your students intertwined and efficiently within this community service program, apart from some of your institutions' teaching practices. The university is both our advisor, our guide, and our mentor. I would like to thank our university and our esteemed professors once again on behalf of our institution.”
Rector Korkmaz: “A Classroom Means a Country”
Then, Rector Prof. Dr. Adem Korkmaz also made a speech. In his speech, Rector Korkmaz said: “When we talk about education, our relationship is not limited to the fact that our young people come before you with teaching practices as required by our legislation. In other words, when we look at education as a whole in terms of the future of our society, education has two serious components. This is an important meeting in terms of bringing together primary and secondary education with higher education and being able to talk about many issues and having things to tell each other. Because we continue with the students you have trained. The only exception to this is foreign students coming from abroad. All our other students come to us within the national education system, starting from pre-school. Here, we have the concern of both providing them with a profession and strengthening many values that you have laid the foundation for in these students and ensuring their interaction in terms of being strong individuals for the future of society. While doing this, there are many issues that require us to provide feedback and return to National Education quickly. I think it is important that we discuss these issues together and come together regularly. It is not only the students of the Faculty of Education or the students who are studying for teaching or taking formation, but it is also the feedback of all our students who enter through our doors and reporting back. One of the most important elements for all quality processes is a process they call feedback. It is a structure where the results of the previous stage are evaluated and re-included in the system, and the system is revitalized at each stage of the cycle. Essentially, it is a quality process. Mehmet Akif Ersoy University also has a historical mission. It has an understanding of being involved in all the processes of the city and town it is in as an academy. This is already institutional in the Faculty of Education. It is also institutional in National Education. In every other field, we have a tendency to transfer our existing academic knowledge to different levels with the studies carried out by our university. In certain areas, our university has also been designated as a specialization area. Especially in terms of regional development, it is an approach that the state has turned into a state policy by concretizing this mission in agriculture and animal husbandry. At the core of this approach are the successful studies that our Faculty of Education has been carrying out in cooperation with National Education and the education sector for years. The most important thing in these studies is a mental readiness. This strong relationship between our university and the Directorate of National Education, with you, our esteemed administrators, directors, and teachers, has created a motivation and a ground for us to go into the field and work in the field in other areas as well. The notes we will take in this meeting also reveal a will to carry out strong studies and projects together in the future. We entrust a classroom to our graduating student. A classroom means a country.”
Vice Rector and Acting Dean of the Faculty of Theology Prof. Dr. Mehmet Karaca also talked about the studies they carried out in cooperation with the Faculty of Theology and the Directorate of National Education. In his speech, Prof. Dr. Karaca said; “We also had joint studies with our Directorate of National Education in 2022. After the workshop we organized together with the academicians of our university and the valuable teachers and administrators of our national education on religious education, we had the opportunity to evaluate the general evaluation workshop output regarding the fields of activity and the work to be done. It is clear that it has significant contributions in terms of the formation training of our students from the perspective of our university. During this process, we also had hundreds of joint events with our Directorate of National Education, especially regarding student communities affiliated with the Health, Culture, and Sports Department. Approximately 50% of these were implemented in schools under the umbrella of our Directorate of National Education. I think the activities carried out by our university students together in high schools and equivalent schools are a good collaboration.”
Finally, Dean of the Faculty of Sports Sciences Prof. Dr. Emrah Atay made a speech. Prof. Dr. Atay said, “The place where the knowledge we teach here is reinforced and the title of teaching is also imparted to children is the school practices, the internships. In this respect, I thank you very much. Personally, you always treat us positively whenever we visit. You treat our children positively. I thank you very much for your interest, close relationships, warm contacts, and good-natured approaches to our students. I would also like to say that we used to come together only for teaching practice. From now on, we have a project prepared by the Faculty of Sports Sciences to promote sports in schools, and in the coming years, the Faculties of Sports Sciences will undergo a new restructuring. 6 + 2, that is, they receive 6 terms of education at the university and 2 terms in the field. We think that the field will only be schools in small places in this city. In this respect, I think we will need more cooperation in the future.”
After the speeches, school administrators also shared their opinions. After the meeting, Rector Korkmaz and Director of National Education Kakırman presented certificates of appreciation to the school administrators who attended the meeting. The meeting ended with a tour of the MAKÜ İstiklal Campus and lunch.
