An Analysis of the Adult Education Curricula Implemented in Turkish Universities

Abstract

The aim of the study to examine the characteristics of the programs conducted by the Continuing Education Centers (CECs), to reveal whether these programs serve for equality, and to identify the institutional barriers related to the CEC programs against adult education. CECs aim to fulfill the educational needs of adults and/or sectors in different fields through the trainings they conduct. In this study, descriptive research method is adopted. The data for this study were collected by examining the 1727 adult education programs through macro analysis, and 83 adult education curricula stated on the webpages of CECs functioning in 57 universities in 2015 were subject to micro analysis. The trainings conducted by CECs were examined according to some criteria such as theme, duration, training fee, mode of instruction, and the features of target audience. Moreover, the curricula of the trainings conducted by CECs were analyzed in terms of objectives, content, teaching-learning processes, and measurement and evaluation. The most important findings of the study involved the inefficiency of the CECs in contributing to the social equality, the lack of standards in curricula and insufficient collaboration with enterprise and other institutions.