Welcome to Marmara University, Institute of Educational Sciences.

For nearly 150 years, our institution has contributed to education without discrimination, and then to the city, culture and society in which we live in, at different levels. Our institute works in cooperation with our faculty and other prominent institutions of our university to develop and improve life and opportunities, and to advance school and society towards better humane future.

 

In the middle of the 19th century, defined as the “Age of Education”, the precursor of our institute was opened as a modest teacher school in Istanbul (Dârülmuallimîn, 1848) in order to train teachers equipped with modern qualities and competencies in our country. The institute offers 27 master and 23 doctorate programs in total, in 50 different programs, as of 2019, from Turkish Language and Literature Education to Computer and Instructional Technology Teaching, from Curriculum and Instruction to Guidance and Psychological Counseling. The Institute has achieved to become one of the leading and the most comprehensive institutes in our country by providing graduate education at both national and international level.

 

At the moment, in the graduate programs combining master and doctoral programs in various fields, several studies are carried out in both theoretical and practical fields of education at our institute. On the one hand, we focus on examining what is really going in education in all levels, on the other hand we question how things should be in education and what should be really taught. For example, studies aimed at determining the reinforcement assessment method effective for visually impaired children in the field of special education, studies investigating the different types of bullying and their causes among high school students and how to prevent such behavioral disorders; as well as studies investigating the attempts, policies and results internationalization of the universities in our country to have a say in the international arena and studies investigating discrimination in educational settings are only a few of these topics.

 

The methods and content of education are developing in depth at an unpredictable speed and is being reshaped and it will continue to advance towards new horizons. Adhering to the founding values and principles of our Republic, development in accordance with democratic values can only be achieved at all levels with good education – by the way, what could make us hopeful about the future if we ceased to learn and educate? – For this reason, in addition to the programs offered so far, our institute aims to increase the number of the programs as well as its qualities in our graduate programs in order to meet different needs and provide unique answers to various research questions. To this end, our institute is planning dispositions to raise the qualifications of the programs, to organize the necessary workshops, seminars or conferences and to support the scientific studies of the academicians who teach at the institute.

 

The aim of our institute is to create opportunities and options for our students to receive a good education, to advance the boundaries of both education and science with the work of our academicians, to produce practices and recommendations aimed at protecting and improving both human and social life, and most importantly to educate the educational leaders and researchers of the future who prioritize ethical principles and have social responsibility.

 

One of the basic elements that make society and academic world functional is rational and civil values, and another one is the ability to preserve and foster different ideas, critical thoughts and explanations in the light of science, and even to ensure the continuity of these ideas and this scientific atmosphere. Truth can only show its glimmering face in such an environment without a quial. The advancement of education and science is possible only through the free meeting, confrontation and sometimes clash of different ideas. As Namık Kemal, one of the pioneers of Turkish modernization who left his mark in the second half of the 19th century Turkish thoughg, pointed out precisely this aspect when he said “The lightning flash of truth will be born from the collision of ideas.” (Turkish, “Barika-i hakikat, müsâdeme-i efkârdan doğar”)

 

Ascension cannot be achieved by stepping on others. In fact, this kind of ascension is called as fall in our culture. The real ascension, which is the ultimate goal of education, is to work together in collaboration with individuals and communities that are somehow traumatized, perhaps forgotten or lost their way through the bondage of arbitrariness or directed towards the wrong direction, and to move forward all together leaving no one below or behind. Humanity can only ascend with all its members and elements. It is not possible for humanity to rise in a world that does not feel the responsibility of those who find themselves behind, forgotten or left behind by any means.

 

With its pioneering role in modern education and research, our university is on its way to becoming an international university that aims social development at all levels. Acting in accordance with this vision, our institute aims to support both theoretical and practical research in all fields of educational sciences without discrimination and to contribute as much as we can with our academic and administrative staff to the training of young researcher who have assimilated the fundamental values of our Republic, who courageously investigate and analyze, design new and unique practices in education by thinking creatively and constructively, and who keep alive the curiosity and wonder of life-long learning.

Hoping to work together and be aware of the fact that the future is hosting our best work, most qualified researchers, best teachers and educators while we are constantly being nourished from our culture as well as our university's deep-rooted past experience.

 

Prof. Dr. Seyfi KENAN

Director of the Institute of Educational Sciences