Critical Discourse Analysis of Distance Higher Education in Turkish Higher Education Policy Documents
Abstract
This study examines the distance higher education related policy strategies of the Turkish state. Using critical discourse analysis, based on Norman Fairclough’s work, the aim is to analyse the discourses used within policy-related documents and government reports regarding the role and significance of distance education in the Turkish higher education system. In order to achieve this objective, certain key documents including annual activity reports, national youth and education policy documents, and strategic plans produced by the Ministry of National Education and Higher Education Council have been analyzed. Basic findings reveal that in the dominant discourses regarding distance education in the Turkish higher education system, the policy makers seem to have very little interest in distance education as a strategic tool. The superficiality and indifference towards the open university system in the analysed documents may come to mean that the policies and envisaged programmes are far away from any solid theoretical background in how distance education may contribute to social inclusion and the development of the society through higher education of masses. Thus, this study can conclude that achieving social justice in distance education in Türkiye requires a devoted undestanding of its contributions to inclusion of all kinds of lifelong learners with diverse needs.
Metrics
References
Barton, L. E. N., & Slee, R. (1999). Competition, selection and inclusive education: some observations. International journal of inclusive education, 3(1), 3-12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/136031199285147
Bayne, S. (2015). What's the matter with ‘technology-enhanced learning’?. Learning, media and technology, 40(1), 5-20. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2014.915851
Beetham, H. (2016). Employability and the digital future of work. In Proceedings of the 10th international conference on networked learning 2016, Edited by: Cranmer S, Dohn NB, de Laat M, Ryberg T & Sime, JA. (pp. 47-55).
Biesta, G. (2009). What kind of citizenship for European higher education? Beyond the competent active citizen. European Educational Research Journal, 8(2), 146-158. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2304/eerj.2009.8.2.146
Bottery, M. (2000). Education, policy and ethics. Continuum.
Czerniewicz, L. (2018). Inequality as higher education goes online. Networked learning: Reflections and challenges, 95-106. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74857-3_6
Dutton, J., Dutton, M., & Perry, J. (2002). How do online students differ from lecture students. Journal of asynchronous learning networks, 6(1), 1-20. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v6i1.1869
English, F. W. (2003). The postmodern challenge to the theory and practice of educational administration. Charles C Thomas Publisher.
Erdoğan, R. T. (2021, October 05) 2021-2022 Yükseköğretim Akademik Yıl Açılış Töreni’nde Yaptıkları Konuşma https://www.tccb.gov.tr/konusmalar/353/130788/2021-2022-yuksekogretim-akademik-yil-acilis-toreni-nde-yaptiklari-konusma
Fairclough, N. (2000). Discourse, social theory, and social research: The discourse ofwelfare reform. Journal of sociolinguistics, 4(2), 163-195. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9481.00110
Fairclough, N. (2003). Analysing discourse (Vol. 270). Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203697078
Fairclough, N. (2012). Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315834368
Foucault, M., Rabinow, P., & Hurley, R. (1997). The essential works of Michel Foucault, 1954–1984. Vol. 3. Ethics: subjectivity and truth. Allen Lane.
Gee, J. P. (2010). How to do discourse analysis: A toolkit. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203850992
Gourlay, L. (2015). Open education as a ‘heterotopia of desire’. Learning, media and Technology, 40(3), 310-327. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2015.1029941
Gourlay, L. (2017). Student engagement, ‘learnification’and the sociomaterial: Critical perspectives on higher education policy. Higher Education Policy, 30, 23-34. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-016-0037-1
Harasim, L. (2000). Shift happens: Online education as a new paradigm in learning. The Internet and higher education, 3(1-2), 41-61. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1096-7516(00)00032-4
Hinzen, H., Slowey, M., & Khau, H. P. (2024). Learning from the past for the future: Signposts and landmark anniversaries in adult learning and education. International Review of Education, 1-28. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-024-10089-3
Jessop, B. (2018). On academic capitalism. Critical policy studies, 12(1), 104-109. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19460171.2017.1403342
Keegan, D. (2013). Foundations of distance education. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315004822
Lambert, S. R. (2018). Changing our (dis) course: A distinctive social justice aligned definition of open education. Journal of Learning for Development, 5(3). DOI: https://doi.org/10.56059/jl4d.v5i3.290
Lee, K. (2018). Discursive Effects of a Paradigm Shift Rhetoric in Online Higher Education: Implications on Networked Learning Research and Practice. In: Bonderup Dohn, N., Cranmer, S., Sime, JA., de Laat, M., Ryberg, T. (eds) Networked Learning. Research in Networked Learning. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74857-3_4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74857-3_4
Liasidou, A. (2008). Critical discourse analysis and inclusive educational policies: The power to exclude. Journal of Education Policy, 23(5), 483-500. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02680930802148933
Luke, A. (2018). Educational policy, narrative and discourse. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315145167
Moore, M. (1990). Recent contributions to the theory of distance education. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning, 5(3), 10-15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0268051900050303
Mulderrig, J. (2011). Manufacturing Consent: A corpus‐based critical discourse analysis of New Labour’s educational governance. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 43(6), 562–578. https:// doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-5812.2010.00723.x. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-5812.2010.00723.x
Özvar, E. (2021,October 05) YÖK Başkanı Özvar, yeni akademik yılı açılış töreninde konuştu, https://basin.yok.gov.tr/InternetHaberleriBelgeleri/%C4%B0nternet%20Haber%20Belgeleri/2021/285_erol_ozvar_akademik_acilista_konustu.pdf
Peters, M. A. (2007). Higher education, globalisation and the knowledge economy: Reclaiming the cultural mission. Ubiquity, 2007(May). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/1267047.1276155
Rumble, G. (2001). Re-inventing distance education, 1971? 2001. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 20(1-2), 31-43. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02601370117060
Saarinen, T. (2008). Position of text and discourse analysis in higher education policy research. Studies in Higher Education, 33(6), 719-728. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070802457090
Selwyn, N. (2011). Does Technology Make Education Fairer? In Education and technology: key issues and debates (pp. 92–115). New York: Continuum International Pub. Group.
Selwyn, N., Bulfin, S., & Pangrazio, L. (2015). M assive O pen O nline C hange? Exploring the discursive construction of the ‘MOOC’in newspapers. Higher Education Quarterly, 69(2), 175-192. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12061
Tait, A., & O’Rourke, J. (2014). 1 Internationalization and Concepts of Social Justice: What Is to Be Done? In Online Distance Education (pp. 39-74). Athabasca University Press.
Van Dijk, T. A. (1995). Aims of critical discourse analysis. Japanese discourse, 1(1), 17-28. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926595006001001
Van Dijk, T. A. (2009). News, discourse, and ideology. In The handbook of journalism studies (pp. 211-224). Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203877685-23
Watters, A. 2017. Education technology and the new behaviorism. Available at Hack Education. https://hackeducation.com/2017/12/23/top-ed-tech-trends-social-emotional-learning [Last accessed 21 June 2024].
Yükseköğretim Kurulu. (2022). Üniversite İzleme ve Değerlendirme Raporu. Retrieved October 20, 2023, from, https://www.yok.gov.tr/Documents/Yayinlar/Yayinlarimiz/2022/2022-universite-izleme-ve-degerlendirme-genel-raporu.pdf
Yükseköğretim Kurulu. (2020). Küresel Salgında Yeni Normalleşme Raporu. Retrieved October 20, 2023, from, https://www.yok.gov.tr/Documents/Yayinlar/Yayinlarimiz/2020/kuresel-salginda-yeni-normallesme-sureci-2020.pdf
