TÜSSİDE will provide Entrepreneurship and Leadership Training to 15 Thousand Managers and Teachers!
"Teaching, Leadership and Entrepreneurship Trainings Cooperation Protocol" was signed at a ceremony held at the Ministry of National Education. The ceremony was attended by Minister of National Education Nabi Avcı, Minister of Science, Industry and Technology Nihat Ergün, President of TÜBİTAK Prof. Dr. Yücel Altunbaşak, Director General of Vocational and Technical Education Ömer Açıkgöz and other officials.
Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Ergün said that a very important cooperation would start with the signed protocol. Emphasizing that vocational and technical education is one of the most important issues in Turkey, Ergün said that with this protocol, they want to accelerate the work even more. In this context, he said that the project's executor, the Turkish Industry and Administration Institute (TÜSSİDE), will organize seminar programs, prepare curricula and implement training programs.
"We took important steps to strengthen vocational high schools again"
Referring to the fact that industrialists complain that they cannot find qualified personnel in many places, Ergün said that this situation in a country like Turkey, where unemployment is around 9 percent, points to an important need in the education system. Ergün said, "We have taken important steps to strengthen vocational high schools again and to give them their former vitality. From now on, we need to focus more on improving the quality of our vocational and technical education schools."
Minister Ergün said that the work will start with the training of trainers, and that efforts are underway to increase the quality of teachers, the quality of materials and the content of vocational high schools. Emphasizing that they see entrepreneurship as a key to solving Turkey's economic and social problems, Minister Ergün said: "We absolutely need entrepreneurship and added value. Vocational education will play a very important role in creating this. That is why we attach importance to this protocol. In the following process, we will continue to keep the coordination between our institutions at the highest level."
15 Thousand Managers and Teachers to be Trained
Minister of National Education Nabi Avcı stated that the protocol aims to support the professional qualifications, entrepreneurship and leadership qualities of 15 thousand managers and teachers in vocational and technical education. Pointing out that the main purpose of the change in the education system in the last 10-11 years is to raise individuals who are inquisitive, innovative, free-thinking, imaginative and therefore have the spirit of entrepreneurship, Avcı said that it is everyone's duty to prepare a favorable environment for this, to remove obstacles in front of children and to encourage them.
Emphasizing that the magic of courage that will change lives will be revealed first by parents and then by teachers, Avcı said that for this reason, they attach importance to professional development, entrepreneurship and leadership trainings for teachers and education administrators and that they have initiated related projects. Stating that they organize various courses and seminars in this context and cooperate with universities, NGOs, public institutions and organizations and the private sector, Avcı said that in January last year, in cooperation with the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology and TUBITAK, efforts were launched to provide vocational and technical education students with an entrepreneurship culture and to increase their skills in this direction, and that the short-term results of this cooperation increased the importance and meaning of this cooperation even more.
Avcı continued his words as follows: "While we work to revitalize the entrepreneurial spirit of our students, we will hopefully realize this mentality transformation much faster and more effectively with the training of our teachers and administrators. We aim to train 25 thousand administrators and teachers in vocational and technical education together with the administrators and teachers we will train with this protocol in 2013-2015. Within the scope of this protocol, 15 thousand teachers and administrators will benefit from the trainings to be organized, and our Ministry will also realize the development of 10 thousand vocational courses teachers and administrators."
Training Program to be Completed in 3 Years
Within the scope of the protocol, it is planned to provide training and education to 15 thousand managers and teachers working in schools and institutions affiliated to MoNE, providing formal and non-formal vocational education within 3 years in cooperation with MoNE and TÜBİTAK. In this context, teachers will receive "Teaching and Entrepreneurship Training" and managers will receive "Leadership and Entrepreneurship Training". The groups will not exceed 30 people each. Academics or field experts from public institutions and organizations will be assigned as trainers. A resource of 18 million 782 thousand 105 TL will be created for all seminars. Of this amount, 53 percent (10 million TL) will be provided by MoNE and 47 percent (8 million 782 thousand 105 TL) will be provided by TÜBİTAK.
