Stating that the most important work carried out by the Ministry for teachers in recent years is the 'Teaching Profession Law', Aşkar noted that appointments of teachers, professional development and career advancement are regulated with this law. Aşkar added that thanks to the Law, teachers' professional and head teacher career steps are created and thus their personal rights are improved.

 

Reminding that the regulation on in-service training has been updated with particular emphasis on teacher training, Aşkar said that with the updated regulation, the professional development of teachers has been diversified, and that in addition to the existing professional development activities, school-based professional development, professional development communities and teacher-manager mobility programs have been created.

 

Stating that with school-based professional development, the professional development needs of teachers can be met both on a school basis and individually, Aşkar emphasized that for the first time in the history of Türkiye, the "professional development community", where teachers can come together with educators in the digital education environment is included in the regulation.

 

Stating that digital transformation is also given importance in order to meet the needs of each teacher, Aşkar stated that the Teacher Information Network is directly related to the professional development activities of teachers. Expressing that ÖBA is a platform created to support the professional development of teachers and school administrators through distance education, Aşkar said that ÖBA is a meeting point for professional development and is designed to host the sharing of good practices.

 

Emphasizing that more teachers were reached thanks to these efforts, Aşkar said that teachers participated in 9 million 456 thousand professional development activities in 2022 and 2 million 326 thousand in 2023.

 

The teacher education digital ecosystem project was implemented by our Ministry in order to support the digital education skills of our teachers and to advance the studies on digital education in integrity, taking into account the processes that our country and the world are going through. It is aimed to increase the digital education skills of teachers and to strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of National Education to provide digital education. 

 

Stating that teacher learning laboratories will be established in eight provinces, including Ankara, Istanbul, Yalova, İzmir, Rize, Mersin, Erzurum and Gaziantep, within the scope of the project, Deputy Minister of National Education, Petek Aşkar said that considering the processes that Türkiye and the world are going through, the Digital Ecosystem for Teacher Training project has been implemented in order to support the digital education skills of teachers and to advance the studies on digital education in integrity. Stressing that it is aimed to benefit 200 thousand teachers, school administrators and other education personnel, Aşkar said thanks to the teachers who are equipped with digital education skills; students will be provided with a more effective education and training opportunity and ultimately better student learning outcomes will be encountered. Aşkar thanked everyone who contributed to the project's success. 

 

UNICEF Türkiye Country Office Deputy Representative Paolo Marchi, Acting Head of Cooperation at the European Union Delegation to Türkiye Angel Gutierrez Hidalgo, Director General for Teacher Education and Development of the Ministry of National, MEB IT Manager Özgür Türk, Director General for Special Education and Guidance Services Cemal Özdemir, Director General for Support Services Levent Özil, Director General for Secondary Education Halil İbrahim Topçu, Director General for Innovation and Education Technologies (YEĞİTEK) Ertuğrul Karalar, Director General for EU and Foreign Relations Hasan Ünsal, Director General of Construction and Real Estate Umut Gür, Director General of Lifelong Learning Hüseyin Burak Fettahoğlu, Head of Strategy Development Mehmet Fatih Leblebici attended the opening ceremony.