Open education high school in Turkey :|an opportunity, or a track in purgatory?

Abstract

Open Education High School is one of the secondary education tracks in Turkey that provides teaching by using distance education technologies. This study explores the background characteristics and prior school experiences of students attending OEHS in Turkey that lead them to attend this school and how their experiences within OEHS influenced their engagement to education and their future aspirations. The main goal is to unravel the role of OEHS in reproducing inequalities through distance educational tracking and on the engagement level of students attending. In line with the purposes of the study in depth interviews were conducted with 33 students in the public education centers which were also responsible as OEHS contact bureaus in the four districts of İstanbul which were chosen accordingly to provide maximum variation. The findings indicated that the background characteristics of the students included a low socio-economic background, the existence of chaos within the family, low level of education of the family members and migration. The factors that lead the students to attend OEHS were negative experiences they had in the previous schools they attended, lack of motivation in school, high levels of absenteeism, resistance to schooling and the determinant influence of high school exam. The experiences they had in OEHS included their decision processes, their feelings of loneliness, several administrative problems that pointed to an unsettled system that was stuck in a purgatory between formal and non-formal education, limited or no space to socialize and a wide open door for working at an early age. It was seen that the students' educational path led to either uncertainty or hope in despair.