Tourism education examined in Antalya...

At the "Vocational and Technical Education Workshop" organized by the Ministry of National Education in Antalya, the future of vocational education, including Hospitality and Tourism Vocational High Schools, was discussed. At the workshop, which was attended by General Manager İsmail Taşdemir on behalf of the Association of Turkish Hoteliers (TÜROB), the views and recommendations presented for restructuring vocational and technical education were evaluated, taking into account global developments, Industry 4.0, and our country's goals.

The "Vocational and Technical Education Workshop," held to plan the vocational and technical education system of the future, began on January 8 in Antalya with the participation of Osman Nuri GÜLAY, Director General of Vocational and Technical Education, and around 70 people from the private sector, the public sector, and universities.

In his speech, Director General Gülay said that one of the conditions of being a strong country is qualified vocational and technical education, that Türkiye has a very large youth potential, and that it is important for our students to be raised with both national and spiritual values and with new technological knowledge in a globalizing world. Stating that significant work has been carried out under the leadership of our Minister and our Undersecretary to firmly revive vocational and technical education, that apprenticeship training has been brought within the scope of compulsory education under Law No. 6764, that an additional-points practice has been introduced for vocational high school students transferring to vocational colleges (MYO), that vocational and technical education school boards have been established to manage vocational education together with the sector, that programs for 200 branches in 54 fields have been updated, that consultation meetings have been held in 35 provinces with the sector, and that 19 thematic vocational high schools compatible with Industry 4.0 have been opened, Mr. GÜLAY noted that vocational and technical education would be shaped together with stakeholders, taking the sector's demands into account.

At the workshop, together with the stakeholders of vocational and technical education, the future of vocational and technical education, the promotion strategy for vocational and technical education, and the Vocational and Technical Education Strategy Document and Action Plans will be prepared.

Ministry of National Education Undersecretary Yusuf Tekin, in his speech at the Vocational Education Workshop held in Antalya, said that they had devoted the most effort to the question of what could be done in vocational and technical education. Emphasizing that the workshop is important in terms of strengthening vocational and technical education, Tekin said: "In Türkiye, 40 percent of secondary education students receive vocational and technical education. The steps we take here directly concern half of nearly 10 million secondary education students. The contributions this will make to the country's economic and employment structure and to its sociological transformation are a separate matter." Explaining that they have revised all the curricula in the field of vocational and technical education, Tekin stated that by acting with a new design they had arrived at the concept of thematic vocational high schools. Undersecretary Tekin noted the following: "Thematic vocational high schools are running in a very healthy way. These schools are designed to train whatever kind of personnel the sector needs in the region where a particular vocational and technical education program is located, in whichever province or district. We design the program together with representatives of the sector needed in that region. We discuss together how much of it will be theoretical education and how much will be assessed as on-the-job or internship training. We form the teaching staff together with the sector as well. This too is very important." Conveying that a very fundamental change had been made at the Ministry of National Education in order to do these things, Tekin expressed that taking such steps is not easy.

"Concerns 4 million students"
Pointing out that they had carried out a similar practice with sports high schools, Tekin said: "We designed a sports high school earlier. Fatih Terim said, 'I have been trying since 1995, we couldn't do it, we won't be able to do it again either.' We invited our Director General and Fatih Terim, and we created a football high school. These are things that had been discussed within the ministry for decades but, for various reasons, could not be put into practice. We brought them to life in a short time." Emphasizing that such highly successful projects should be expanded by carrying out needs analyses, Tekin explained that these programs need to be organized according to needs.

Noting that they had made many changes regarding the steps to be taken in vocational and technical education, from legal regulations to secondary legislation, Tekin said: "We need to gather and put in proper order the responses to the steps we have taken in the field." Stating that the good things they do are not sufficiently discussed, Tekin noted that their ministry has more than 1,200 protocols in total with other directorates general, but that only a few of these are talked about. Pointing out that everyone has a different dream of vocational education in their mind, Tekin used the following expressions: "As a ministry, we attach importance to vocational and technical education. It is a subject that concerns 4 million of 18 million students; we absolutely had to put it on the table. We need to take steps so that their efforts are not wasted and so that they provide added value to my country."