Can Education Pledges Determine the Fate of the Upcoming Elections?

by Selçuk Pehlivanoğlu / 09 June 2022, Thursday / Published in Life

Elections do change the fate of nations. Elections can have an effect upon the next generation’s tendencies to open up to the world. The biggest liability of the politicians therefore, is hidden in the electoral pledges for the young people.

I have uttered these words for years and afterwards asked the same question: “Does politics aim just to win the elections or to save the generation?”

As the new elections approach in Turkey, an increasing number of people are talking about it in the streets, on television and various platforms. Being the Turkey’s most well-established civil society organization on education with 94 years’ experience, the Turkish Education Association decided to focus on this issue. We carefully listened to what people said about education regardless of their political stance. Finally, we decided to take on the responsibility of investigating the people’s expectations, particularly the young people’s expectations for education. Thus, we prepared a comprehensive questionnaire and made a public opinion research titled “The Role of Political Parties’ Education Pledges on Voter’s Choice” with a particular focus on revealing how effective the education pledges could be on the voting behavior.

We conducted a public opinion research with a sample of approximately 3000 people aiming to examine the relationship between education pledges and voting behavior, administered by KONDA Research and Consultancy Company.
TEDMEM, the think-tank of the Turkish Education Association analyzed the political parties’ election promises from 1950 to 2018, and evaluated the fulfilment of parties’ election pledges on education, which can be regarded as the first steps of initiating a ‘Polimetre’ of the Turkish politics.
TEDMEM also analyzed the education pledges of the various political parties around the world and evaluated whether they fulfilled their promises or not.

In short, we arrived at a consensus on a fundamental question and conducted the public opinion research around it: Can education pledges determine the fate of the upcoming elections? And the answer was simple as that: Yes.

Insufficient and abstract election pledges

Promises are the fundamental elements of the constitution of politics. However, if promises made over the years are not changing and if there is an immeasurable gap between what was promised and what has been fulfilled, then we can sure call them as “words used to win the elections”.

At this point, I want to ask this question: “What are the political parties’ promises on education that have been repeatedly made in each of the elections for the past 70 years?”.

The answer is as follows: “Educational equity, abolition of nationwide exams, abolition of the Higher Education Board, increasing access to education, improving vocational education, improving teacher quality…”

It is not to claim that no crucial steps have been taken to improve the education system in Turkey. However, this process has been experienced just like the marching of the mehter platoon: moving two steps forward, then one step back. While we take two steps forward, mistakes and unanticipated decisions take this progress one step back.

In brief, political parties’ education pledges that have not changed over the years reveal the long-lasting needs of the education system. Unfortunately, election pledges on education in Turkey remain too broad, populist, superficial and ambiguous, compared to the world counterparts.

A first in Turkey: Polimetre of the Turkish politics

In developed countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada and the USA, there are some control mechanisms that check and evaluate the ruling parties’ fulfilment of their promises made during the elections. While Canada has Polimeter and the USA has Politifact as social initiatives, the UK has a legal control mechanism at the state level. On the other hand, Turkey has no systematic control mechanism regarding the fulfilment of election pledges. This being the case, we have prepared a “Polimetre” of the Turkish politics in order to evaluate how much of the education promises made by the political parties between 1950 and 2018 were fulfilled. Then, we asked this question to the voters: “What are the problems of the education system in Turkey?”.

Figure 1. Problems of the education system in Turkey

Do election pledges change voter’s minds ?

One of the most crucial questions of the research was: Would your voting choice change with election pledges? The answers were very clear: 45 percent of all participants have stated that their vote could change with election pledges. Among the young participants aged between 18-24, the ratio is 57 percent.

Figure 2. I would change my voting choice with election pledges.

About 7 out of 10 students stated that their voting choice would change with election pledges. As for the occupational groups; 48 percent of white-collar employees, 40 percent of workers, tradesmen and farmers, 35 percent of retirees, 41 percent of housewives and percent50 of the unemployed would change their votes with election pledges.

Call to politicians

Among the issues that should be prioritized by politics, voters declare that education comes first after economy. One out of two young voters between the ages of 18 and 24 demands political prioritization of the education system. More than half of the voters underline that they would change their votes for the politician who they believe can improve the education system. 56 percent of all voters and 67 percent of the young voters would change their minds for the politician who they believe can improve the education system.

Figure 3. I would change my vote for the politician who I believe can improve the education system.

8 out of 10 people think that Turkey will become a strong country only if the education level increases.
74 percent of the voters and 83 percent of the young voters in Turkey worry about their children’s not having the opportunity to get a decent education they want.
If there is any opportunity, 67 percent of the voters in Turkey and 84 percent of the young voters would prefer their children or themselves to study abroad.
85 percent of the voters and 80 percent of the young voters in Turkey state that they can do anything for their child to continue their education.

What are the voters’ expectations from politicians for education?

Election Pledges	Voters in Turkey	Young Voters (18-24 Age Group)
Quality education will be free for all.	%94	%95
Incentive plans will be developed for increasing the girls’ school attendance rates.	%93	%94
Every child will receive a quality education regardless of his/her parents’ income and profession.	%92	%93
The status and quality of vocational education will be improved.	%93	%94
Students will be prepared for the work life.	%93	%94
Young people will be equipped with critical thinking, questioning and problem-solving skills.	%91	%95
Technology education will be ensured for all students.	%91	%92

Our Recommendations

1- Curriculum

The current content of the curriculum is heavily contingent on rote learning. A new curriculum should be developed focusing on teaching life skills to students.

2- Nationwide Exams

Exam-oriented education systems must be abandoned.
High school entrance examination must be abolished.
High school students should graduate at the end of 11th grade and receive their high school diploma. These students should be given the opportunity to attend a vocational school of higher education, short-cycle tertiary education degree programs or open education programs. On the other hand, 12th grade should be reorganized as a university preparation class for students who want to pursue an undergraduate degree at a higher education institution.

Figure 4. Recommendations for the high school system

3- Vocational Education

Students should be able to enter a vocational school of higher education based on their weighted high school GPA at the end of the 11th grade.
The structure of Anatolian Technical High Schools, Anatolian Vocational High Schools and Vocational Education Centers should be revised.
The majority of the two-year vocational school of higher education should be practice-based and field-based.
Incentives must be congruent with market needs and ensure students’ employment after graduation. The apprenticeship wage should be at least 1,5 times higher than the student cost.

4- Universities

The number of universities, departments and student quotas should be determined based on regional needs, labor supply-demand equilibrium and future jobs.
In order to support the professional development of academic staff, the appointment criteria and promotion should be revised. The working conditions, services and benefits for the academic staff should be improved.

5- Teachers

Policies should be developed with an aim to increase the value of teaching profession and improve teachers’ working conditions along with the services and benefits provided for them.
Policies should be constructed based on a strong cooperation and coordination between teacher education programs and other stakeholders recruiting teachers.