Some remarks on the Turkish educational system

Each year students graduating from primary schools take two entrance exams in order to continue their studies at high school level. The first examination is for admission to private schools, and the second is for admission to state schools. Since 1999 primary school lasts 8 years instead of 5 years before 1999 and high school turned from a 6-years-school to a 4-years-school. In the former system the 8^th grade was the „freshmen year“ which is the 9^th grade today.

Turkish high schools are ranked. Students will only be admitted to highly ranked schools if they pass the nationwide entrance examination with a high score. The school rank depends on the average points of the students of a high school in the Turkish University Exam (ÖSS) which is an external exam.

The students prepare for the Turkish University Exam (ÖSS) not only in school but also in private lessons. In the last two high school years for this purpose most of the students join private preparation-schools in the evenings, the weekends and in part of their holidays. Turkish high schools do not rank their students but with the ÖSS-exam each of them gets his personal rank for university admission. The basis of this are the rank of the school , the personal average of grades in the high school diploma and – most important – the points in the ÖSS-exam.

Istanbul Lisesi

Istanbul Lisesi was established in 1884. In 1914 the German government sent twenty-two German teachers, a fact that gives Istanbul Lisesi a unique status in Turkey (see also paragraph „German dept“). As a state school, Istanbul Lisesi admits students through the central state school examination. Admission to Istanbul Lisesi is very competitive with only one hundred and forty-four students admitted from a pool of three hundred thousand applicants. Istanbul Lisesi is the most difficult school to enter of all the four hundred special state secondary schools in the country, called “Anadolu Liseleri”, Anatolian High Schools. With a strong boarding population, Istanbul Lisesi draws students from all over Turkey, resulting in a diverse group of students that comprise our student body. Without exaggeration you may say that Istanbul Lisesi belongs to the élite among public Turkish high schools. As a rule students from Istanbul Lisesi pass the university entrance examination (ÖSS) also with very good results so that they will be admitted to highly ranked Turkish universities. The Istanbul Lisesi continues to get support of the German government and has the active support of alumni and parents, many of whom are prominent members of the community. Since Istanbul Lisesi offers a free education, it addresses as well those students who cannot afford private education.

In summer sport teachers organize intramural basketball and soccer tournaments between classes during spring semester. The school has an active Jazz Band and dance team; basketball (boys/girls), volleyball (boys/girls), soccer (boys), handball (boys), table tennis (boys), athleticism (boys), and chess (boys) teams. All these groups take very successful results in city- and nation-wide tournaments and contests.

The German department

In Istanbul Lisesi classes are taught in both German and Turkish. Today, mathematics, geometry, chemistry, physics, biology, computer science and German are instructed in German by German teachers while history, geography, citizenship, military sciences, religion, philosophy, literature, physical education, art and music are taught in Turkish. English is also taught by German teachers while the language of instruction is English. In the last three school years ( the so called "Lise"-years) the curriculum of the subjects taught by German teachers, meet the demands of German high schools, so that in those subjects students get to a level that corresponds to the one of German high schools. Consequently the students attain the ability to study successfully at international universities. That is also the reason why the "deutsche Hochschulreifeprüfung" was introduced at the Istanbul Lisesi. This agreement had been reached between the German government and the Turkish Ministry of Education in the year 1999. The "deutsche Hochschulreifeprüfung" is a final examination at German high schools, which permits successful student the admission to any German university. The textbooks, curricula and standards, used at the Istanbul Lisesi, are under permanent supervision of the German government and are equivalent to German demands.

Students curricula in and after school

Since 1999 Istanbul Lisesi is a five-year school. All students are required to spend the first year learning to master the German language, taking twenty-three lessons of instruction in the first year and eighteen lessons in the second year (frehmen year). The freshmen year (ninth grade) is followed by a senior high school program “Lise” which is an equivalent of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades. Science and mathematics courses start in the preparatory class. Biology is the first science class followed by physics and chemistry in the ninth and tenth grades. English is a compulsory class from prep-class on. There is a non-credited computer class in the tenth grade.

Students choose between Mathematics-Sciences („FEN“) and Turkish-Mathematics („TM“) streams in the eleventh grade. Students who select their studies in the FEN-streams plan to pursue careers in engineering, sciences or medicine. The majority of courses in this stream are science and mathematics courses. Only FEN-students are admitted to Abitur examinations. Students in the TM-stream plan to study business, economics or public relations. Courses in the social sciences and mathematics dominate this stream.

All of the students from Istanbul Lisesi plan to pursue their studies at a four-year university. The percentages of students enrolling in Turkish universities are between 86% and 97%, which is far above average. (It should be known that the overall national acceptance rate for 1994 was 10%). In the year 2000, twenty-seven students from Istanbul Lisesi scored in the top one hundred students on the central university examination. In the year 2001, our school was extremely successful, and seven students scored in the top ten. It is to be noted that 1.5 million students take this exam every year. Each year, approximately 20 to 25 students matriculate into German and Austrian universities and about 5 to 8 into US universities.

One of the aspects that make ours school unique, not only in Turkey, but also in Europe, is our consecutive success at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists. Our students won the 2^nd prize in 2004, and the special donated prize in 2005.

Demands and evaluation of grades

After the 1992-1993 school year, student grades were evaluated on a five scale due to the changes in the Turkish education system. During the “Lise”, two is the passing grade while a GPA of 3.5 is honors and a GPA of 4.5 is high honors. It should be pointed out that academic standards are very demanding and the grading system strict. Rank is determined on a semester basis beginning with Lise 1. The grade equivalents for this scale are as follows:

In the German department student grades are evaluated on a 15 scale due to the German education system. The grade equivalents for this scale in percent are as follows:

Both the Turkish and the German system do not know weighted grades as the US system does. In the German and the Turish system the weight of the grade for a certain subject depends on the hours per week this subject is taught.