THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF COMPULSORY EDUCATION APPLICATIONS IN EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES VERSUS TURKEY

8th International Scientific Conference - SGEM2008, www.sgem.org, SGEM2008 Conference Proceedings/ ISBN: 954-918181-2, June 16-20, 2008, Vol. 2, 731-740 pp

ABSTRACT

Compulsory education is regarded as the most vital part of formal education. It entails
that the individual shall be given education for a definite period of time during defined
periods. All countries try to ensure that all young people enter working life with a
minimum amount of human capital gained through the years of compulsory education.
However it is observed that every country endeavors to apply a different standard for
compulsory education. Specifically while we are in the integration process with the
European Union (EU), we aimed to analyze the European Union Policy about
Compulsory Education and applications of the European Union countries.

Most European countries have separate systems for early childhood and compulsory
education. The researchers believe in the importance of the appraisement of education
systems and schools in assuring quality education when decentralization is becoming
increasingly widespread in Europe. Pinpointing the evaluation of systems, the starting
age of the compulsory education, the duration of the compulsory education, the
financial support given by the governments and the diversity of the courses constitute
our main concern in comparing the countries in this study.

Previous studies about compulsory education, country reports, EU official documents
and reports have been analyzed for this research. In the first part of the study the
comparisons are made between the EU countries; where similarities and differences are
highlighted. In the second part of the study the compulsory education in Turkish
educational system is analyzed.

Keywords: European Union, Educational Policies of EU, Compulsory Education, Turkish Educational System