A SELF-CRITICAL ANALYSIS UPON TURKISH CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION FIELD IN CONSIDERATION OF RECONCEPTUALISM

The purpose of this study is to view the basic arguments and the new perspective brought in the field through the movement of reconceptualism that came along the curriculum studies in the USA in 1970s, and thus to analyze the situation of curriculum studies in Turkey. For this purpose, related and opposite views about the movement are presented through literature firstly, then issues and gaps are discussed in the Turkish context. Named as a paradigm alteration, reconceptualism is a movement that objects to the predominately traditional conception of “curriculum development”. This movement highlights the significance of the political, cultural, gender and historical aspects of educational experiences. According to the movement, the curriculum can be understood by examining different and opponent discourses that are political, racial, gender, phenomenological, post-structualist and post-modern, autobiographic and biographic, esthetic, and theological. In other respects, the history of the field of Curriculum and Instruction (CI) in Turkey is a long one and full of numerous obstacles. Several studies were carried out in pursuit of an appropriate curriculum from the time of Abdulhamid II to the foundation of the Turkish Republic; however, it was only after the Republic that further efforts were made so as to conceptualize and institutionalize the curriculum. It can be argued that the graduate programs in the field of CI commonly overlook variety and alternatives in Turkey at the present time, and seem to stay aloof from philosophy, politics and sociology. American literature, followed frequently and profoundly about teaching-learning processes or approaches, is not monitored well enough in terms of curriculum discussions. Concordantly, in this study, some suggestions are offered related to the field by arguing why reconceptualism did not draw interest in Turkey.