4 + 4 + 4 EDUCATION SYSTEM WITH PERSPECTIVE OF BRANCH AND PRIMARY TEACHERS

Extension of compulsory education to 12 years has brought a new formation known as 4 +4 +4 in the public. How this restructuring will affect the education system has been the focus of attention for educational researchers. The aim of this study is to determine classroom and branch teachers’ views about 4 +4 +4 education system problems and system-related problems and is to provide suggestions about other problems regarding this system. The study is a case study based on qualitative research method. 334 classroom and branch teachers participated in this study. 313 teacher's thoughts about the research problem and subproblems were obtained in writing through a structured interview form and 21 teacher's thoughts were obtained from interviews conducted face to face. Interpretation of the data obtained from interviews were subjected to content analysis based on individual questions, but when considering the totality of research, descriptive analysis was performed. Results revealed that teachers are not against change itself in general or in other words they are open to change, but they object to the manner or method of change. Regarding problems of 4+4+4 education system, teachers focused on mostly first-year students starting school at the age of five have diffuculty to adapt to school and the fifth-grade students have also diffuculty to adapt to their branch teachers. While teachers complain mostly downward revision of school age, rising compulsory education to 12 years has been the most widely accepted implementation by teachers. The majority of teachers view reasonable separation of schools by level of 4 years. STRUCTURED ABSTRACT