The reflection of government programs and the decisions taken in the national education councils on elementary school visual arts course curriculums in Turkey: 1923-1950

The purpose of the current study is to determine whether the programs of the governments established in the period between 1923 and 1950 and the decisions taken in the national education councils had any reflections on the elementary school Visual Arts course curriculums in terms of course objectives, content, learning and teaching process and evaluation approaches. Within the context of the current study, the 1924, 1926, 1936 and 1948 Elementary School Programs, the 1927 Curriculum of Village Schools; the 1936 Village Schools Curriculum Draft and 1939 Village Primary School Program Project were discussed. In the current study, which was conducted by using historical research method, data were collected by document analysis method and analyzed through document analysis. As a result, it was concluded that Painting course had an indirect role in transferring the principles of Republic and secularism to society in the 1924 Program; in the programs implemented between 1926 and 1936, governments’ educational policies were reflected in various aspects of the course’s objectives and content dimensions; particularly after May 1935, the party policies of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) were a decisive factor on the decisions taken at the councils and therefore the curricula. In addition, one of the culture and arts policies of CHP was the idea of “instilling the spirit of revolution in the society by establishing the revolution museums” was turned into an applicable form with the establishment of school museums in elementary school programs and the inclusion of “reforms/revolution corner” in these museums in the formal education as of 1936. The fact that national policies of CHP were more effective in shaping the instructional and educational programs of the period was because the policies of this party were accepted as the government policies as there was no other source of power against it and this was quite natural for the Turkey of that time. The new multi-party era starting with the 1946 election is another political development that has reflections on the curriculum