Learning and Teaching Strategies for Technology Education in Turkey

The main power behind the development of a country can be considered as EDUCATION. Today, due to rapid industrialization, professional and technical education is regarded as locomotive in raising staff to industry equipped with necessary qualifications. Engineering education in developed countries is based on theory and it is design oriented. Engineers participate rarely in implementation, though in some countries they are directly involved. The engineering education in Turkey is given in the faculties of Engineering and it has been observed that the education is mostly theoretical. It has also been observed that there are important shortcomings in transferring the comprehensive theoretical engineering knowledge into practice and that there is a gap between the industry and the universities. An important shortcoming exists in technology education, which actually means the transfer of theoretical knowledge into practice. The Technical Training Faculties do not only give theoretical knowledge but they also provide an important amount of applied education; however the graduates are entitled as technical teachers without clearly defined roles and responsibilities, as a result of which the industrial institutions can not make use of them. The engineering and technology education in developed countries are given by Engineering Faculties, Technology Faculties and Technician Schools. The technology Faculties part of this process is missing in our country. This should be completed by the establishment of the Technology Faculties