The Ministry of National Education in our country remains unsettled and is still undergoing major changes. Indeed, our education system has not yet reached a stable standard. Significant reforms that affect millions are still being implemented. Naturally, the education system should evolve and be updated to meet current conditions. But that presumes a stable framework exists. Each year thousands graduate from universities here, hoping to work in their fields. According to official figures and announcements, there are roughly one million teacher candidates who graduated from education faculties and are currently waiting to be appointed as teachers.
Meanwhile, the announced need for teachers is around 100,000. These numbers highlight how serious the situation is. So what will happen to these unappointed teachers? After years of study, taking the KPSS exam and interviews, failing to secure an appointment is understandably difficult. Looking from another angle, the official results of the 2016 Field Knowledge Test for Teaching (ÖABT) showed that many of the teacher candidates waiting for appointment did not pass the subject exam in their own fields. That issue deserves its own in-depth discussion. Here we focus on the main question: what will become of the unappointed teachers? This is one of the largest and most complex problems of our time and could fill volumes. Key questions include where the problems originate, how solutions might be found, and what steps should be taken next.
Why aren’t they being appointed, and what will happen to unappointed teachers?
Today there are graduates who studied to become teachers and found after graduation that securing a position is far from easy. The number of unappointed teachers rivals the number of permanent teachers on the payroll. Even if appointments were made to fully meet current needs, the number of unappointed teachers would still be in the hundreds of thousands. Given this reality, the Director General of Teacher Training and Development at the Ministry of National Education, Associate Professor Dr. Semih Aktekin, said at a seminar in Antalya that if teacher candidates cannot be appointed, they should be guided to acquire transferable skills through elective courses and be steered toward employment in other sectors.
He suggested, for example, that history graduates could move into museum work or tourism guiding; Turkish language and literature graduates could pursue local journalism or publishing; mathematics graduates could move into banking or insurance and join the private sector. “Let’s not expect everything from the state,” he said, emphasizing that teaching is not the only possible career for education graduates. In light of such statements, answers to the question “what will become of unappointed teachers?” can seem discouraging. Facing today’s economic pressures, teacher candidates who cannot be appointed often experience worsening financial hardship and repeatedly petition government leaders for help. Recently, unappointed teachers and those who consider themselves victims of interview processes met with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, explained their situation, and submitted a dossier. The President promised to seek solutions. Following that meeting, Minister of National Education İsmet Yılmaz announced on a TV program that 20,000 contracted teachers had been appointed and that an additional 10,000 contracted teacher appointments would be made in 2017. However, no concrete development or further announcement has been made regarding that additional 10,000 appointments; reports suggest the matter depends on budgetary work.
What will happen to unappointed teachers and what are the solutions?
Unappointed teachers are an age-old problem that continues to grow. Thousands of teacher candidates graduate every year. Those waiting for appointment emphasize that teaching is a passion for them and that they persistently wait because of this commitment. It is a reality that some candidates have taken the KPSS exam for nearly a decade and still remain unappointed. So, can the redirection suggested by Associate Professor Semih Aktekin—steering unappointed teachers into other professions—be a viable solution? If teachers move into those suggested professions, what will the original professionals in those fields do? There are also proposals offering more professional and structural solutions. One such voice, Professor Dr. Mustafa Özcan, argues that the education system itself needs reform.
Professor Özcan believes not everyone should become a teacher—only those with the interest and aptitude. He criticizes the current model in which candidates may study four years and receive only six months of pedagogy training, calling for a longer practical practice period. As a solution, he proposes restructuring the four-year program into a 2+2 model: the first two years focused on general culture and subject courses, followed by two years devoted to practice and application. He also recommends requiring a master’s degree to qualify for teaching. According to him, these changes would significantly reduce the problem by ensuring better-prepared and more committed teachers enter the profession.