Background to Schools

Mission

The mission of both schools is succinctly stated using the name BILKENT as an acronym.
The mission highlights the importance of international mindedness and providing a high quality teaching and learning environment which:

  produces outstanding citizens with languages;
  encourages knowledge of the world in which we live and enhances students’ ability to operate successfully beyond school;
  promotes students’ problem-solving abilities, creativity, understanding of different cultures, and familiarity with modern technology;
  develops students’ initiative, self-esteem, self-discipline and social responsibility;
  establishes a healthy balance of assertiveness, competitiveness and cooperation in students in a safe physical and emotional environment.

Philosophy

In a workshop at the beginning of the 2008-9 academic year the schools’ philosophy was expressed in the following terms. These are ideals and reflect the striving for betterment which underlies all effort in the schools.

  Our philosophy is to provide a whole person education which gives importance to the development of both the academic and social skills of pupils.
  Our students are selected from a broad ability range and every student is important for us.
  We push the capacities of children by adding as much value as possible to each child in our care.
  We work together to realize our philosophy in an atmosphere of respect, clear standards, high expectations, and team work.
  We are committed to the professional development of all our staff and to realizing their potential.
  We lead by example.

Rights and Responsibilities

School is a society and as such members have certain rights and responsibilities. These rights and responsibilities should provide guidelines for the actions of all members of the school.

Rights of Students as Members of the School Community
  Right to Professional Teachers
Students have the right to teachers who are prepared, on time, mark homework, use a variety of teaching methods, engage students actively in learning, and who promote the goals of the school.

  Right to Learn
Students have the right to ask questions, use the library and computers, be creative, etc.

  Right to Information
Students have the right to have dates of exams, see grades, receive frequent evaluation of learning, know Ministry of Education and school rules, be made aware of choices available, etc.

  Right to a Safe and Encouraging Environment
Students have the right not to be shouted at, not to receive unfair criticism, not to have cynical or insulting remarks directed at them, not to be hit or suffer physical punishment.

  Right to be Respected as Individuals
Students have the right to two way communication, share their ideas freely, be heard, ask questions, be treated impartially and fairly.

Responsibilities of Students as Members of the School Community
  Respect for Others (friends, classmates, teachers, all staff)
Students should respect the rights and opinions of others, the positions and authority of others within the school system, and the culture of others.

  Respect for the Environment
Students should respect property of other persons, groups, the school and the society as a whole.

  Respect for Oneself
Students should show self-respect by not cheating or copying, by not swearing or using bad language, by behaving appropriately on buses and at all other times.

  Respect for the Educational System
Students should respect the school system by being on time (punctual), doing homework on time, showing a willingness to learn (shown by, for example, their sitting position in class, whether materials are brought as required, being prepared for lessons) and wearing appropriate dress.

Staff

Both the high and primary schools together have roughly 150 staff made up of academic staff, administrative staff, and support staff. There are 15 international staff in the schools, who therefore make up approximately 10% of the teaching staff.

For international staff there is the opportunity to work alongside local staff and get close to Turkish culture and feel part of the local community, its traditions and customs. An opportunity is available to learn Turkish and practice in the school. Free lessons are available on campus for international staff. Meetings are often in Turkish and, where international staff cannot follow in Turkish, translation is provided by colleagues. However, many staff speak English, including the senior administration, and enjoy the opportunity to talk in English with international colleagues. Staff meetings in the English department are always in English, as are many PYP and IB seminars and discussion.

Organisation

The Özel Bilkent Schools are part of the İhsan Doğramacı Foundation managed through a Board of Trustees. The Schools Board consists of Members of Bilkent University, the administrators of the schools, and parent representatives.

Within each school, primary and high, there is a management committee made up of the principal, vice-principals, heads of department of the school, which meets regularly and which takes decisions related to the general running of the school, academic matters, budget submissions, projects, calendar, and so on. Some of these decisions such the finalised budget submission or academic calendar are then sent to the Board for ratification. Some decisions may need to be then forwarded to the Ministry of Education if they go outside the general guidelines of the Ministry. The schools generally start a week earlier than state schools, for example, which requires special permission.

Each department has regular meetings and issues of import to the schools as a whole may be carried to the school management committee for school-wide discussion.

The principal is required to meet with all teachers in a special teachers meeting at the beginning and end of each semester. This is a required and official meeting which is formal in character.

All meetings have minutes taken for distribution to members and others in the school community. Minutes are required to be kept and are inspected during official inspections.

In addition to more formal meetings there are many other school activities which are regulated by committees formed at the general teacher meeting at the beginning of the year, such as, amongst others, the discipline committee, honour committee, counselling advisory committee, safety committee. Different members of staff are elected to work on these committees.

Students have a student councils, one for each school, which is elected each year by all students in a secret ballot. There are class representatives from Grade 1 onwards and they are actively engaged in the life of the school and its decision-making.

Semesters and Holidays

The schools have, by law, to offer a minimum of 180 days of education a year. The school year is divided into two semesters and starts for students during the first/second week of September. The school year finishes towards the end of June. Teachers arrive two weeks prior to the children and leave around the first of July.

All new teachers receive a special induction program at the beginning of the school year, as a group, which lasts around three days. After this they work in their departments with colleagues on preparing for the school year and working on their yearly curriculum plans and other needed documentation.

Between semesters there is a two week break, generally at the end of January/ beginning of February. There are also two half semester breaks, generally of one week, the first in the middle of semester 1, the second sometime in April in semester 2. The first semester is when the two major movable feast days of the Muslim calendar currently take place, the Sugar Bayram and the Kurban Bayram (Feast of Sacrifice) and these effect the exact timing of the break in semester 1.
Turkey has a secular constitution in which the separation of state and religion is enshrined. The working week follows the pattern of western countries, namely Monday to Friday, with the weekend being Saturday and Sunday.

There are no holidays for Christmas and, although international staff, if they wish, are able to take the day of Christmas to celebrate this feast day, no extended holiday period is built into the calendar at that time of year. International staff must be prepared to be at work over the Christmas period. New year is generally off for all staff.

Click here to see a copy of the 2009-10 academic calendar for the Özel Bilkent Schools. This still requires final ratification by the Ministry of Education, after acceptance by the Board of the School.

Teachers are provided with an academic planner at the beginning of each year which signals the main school activities, meetings and deadlines.

The School Day

Students arrive at school by 08:30 in the morning, the majority coming on the school busses. The primary school currently leaves at 15:45 and the high school at 15:30 in the after noon.

In general, the primary school has 8 teaching periods per day, making 40 periods per week of 40 minutes per learning period. In the morning the periods are joined into blocks, whereas in the afternoon they are single periods. Between blocks or periods there are 10 minute breaks. Lunch is generally 45 minutes, run in two shifts with Grades 5,6,7 eating slightly later then the younger children. In the morning and afternoon children are provided with a snack (fruit, juice, cake, etc.) during one of the breaks.

In the high school the school day is roughly 8 periods, as the weekly total in 2007-8 has been 41 periods. With the advent of the IB Diploma program, the total number of weekly hours is set to change according to the level (9-12), or program chosen.

Parent Meetings

The schools have regular parent meetings in each semester. In the primary school the first meeting takes place on a Sunday, in the first semester. Thereafter, following meetings take place in the evenings and tend to target students who are not performing sufficiently well.

In the high school the parent meetings are planned for after the finish of the school day, starting around 16:00, on two occasions per semester, with each level being invited on a separate evening.

In addition, teachers in both schools have a set time every week in their program when parents are able to come and visit, subject to booking in advance.
Parents also have their own organisation, Okul Aile Birliği, with elected representatives meeting regularly with the school administration, for example, every two weeks during term time in the primary school. They help the school in many ways by providing resources, discussing issues related to education, organising meetings and seminars for parents, collecting money for social projects, and so on.

Planning

The schools pride themselves on being well organised.

Each department has a development plan which is drawn up in conjunction with members of the department and then discussed with school senior administrators. Individual department plans feed into the whole school development plan which is then ratified by the Board.

The schools have a detailed operational plan which is made available to all staff through a printed planner newly printed and distributed to them at the beginning of each academic year.

Parents are given a handbook in which the yearly plan, with main dates, are available. The operational plan also appears on the web site, as do the monthly menus for the lunch hall so that parents can see their children’s daily diet.

There is a weekly bulletin which is on-line and sent to all parents’ email addresses once a week (on paper, too, for the few who cannot access a computer). Besides chronicling the life of the school, the bulletin also reminds parents and students of important dates and deadlines.

Festivities and Special Events

The academic calendar in Turkey is rich with national celebrations of importance, such as Independence Day (October 29th), the Youth Festival (April 23rd), Ataturk’s Memorial Day (November 10th), to mention a few. These days are celebrated in both schools with activities which mirror the solemnity of the occasion.

The schools also have a full range of artistic, cultural, and educational events such as exhibitions, music nights, art nights, drama, concerts, science fairs, ‘π’ Day, debates, book fairs, competitions, and tournaments. The high school has an active Model United Nations Project Group (MUN) which has travelled extensively over the last year or two, and the Primary School is working towards a similar group.

The schools are socially active and contribute to the community in a variety of ways. Children, as part of their curriculum, are brought in contact with the needy, handicapped, or less fortunate members of the community. The school organises different events to help meet the needs of these community members, such as fund raising, concerts, visits, and service.

Since 2006-7 the school has hosted a yearly teacher conference for teachers from Ankara and Istanbul. This brings together fellow professionals, in the region of 500, to discuss issues of note in workshops which have been led almost entirely by the school’s own staff. 40 members of the school contributed in 2007-8, and an equal number are planning presentations this year, 2008-9 (click here for this year’s conference program).

The schools have also been an active member of the Council of Europe’s Comenius initiative. The primary school has just completed its first 3 year international project (click here for more) with schools from Iceland, Spain, Italy, Hungary, which included visits to these countries for members of staff working on the project. Currently the second initiative is being prepared for.

Professional Development

The school has a close relationship with the University’s Graduate School of Education (GSE). Every year masters students from the GSE come to the school as part of their practicum in a range of subjects, viz. history, math, science, computing, Turkish and English. Teachers in the schools are called upon to provide mentorship and support for these graduate students. In addition some of the staff from the schools teach on these masters courses, particularly in science, math, computing, and Turkish.

Teachers in the primary school and high school have the possibility of taking a Masters in the GSE, with full scholarship. These programs are in the medium of English as Bilkent University is an English-medium university. Currently there are five high or primary school teachers finalising their MA in teaching and curriculum. In addition to the masters program there is the possibility to do a PhD with the GSE in Education. There are currently two teachers enrolled in this option, with full scholarship.

There are often in-house seminars which teachers can follow. Currently there are regular seminars for teachers on: continuous assessment systems; dealing with student talents and diversity; developing testing skills, in particular formative assessment; critical thinking; and, curriculum development; as well as seminars for the PYP and IB programs. All of these are led by external consultants.

Many staff take part in external conferences and are encouraged to offer papers. In general, a large number of teachers attend and present at the Istanbul Autumn Teachers’ Conference which generally takes place in one of the quality schools there in the first semester. This year 40 teachers attended.

Many teachers give presentations at the school’s yearly in-house conference (for more click here). This brings together many teachers from inside and outside the city to share professional knowledge.

At the beginning and end of the school year teachers have two weeks where there are no students in the school and this is a time for programming workshops, and working on special projects reflecting staff development and institutional needs.

Staff also go abroad to seminars or on visits related to the PYP and IB Diploma programs. Training is an integral part of being able to offer these programs and it has to be carried out by authorised trainers. Last year staff attended seminars in Athens, Lyon, Barcelona, Paris, and Berlin, and also visited international schools in Holland and Germany with a view to establishing contacts and viewing good examples of practice. In addition in June this year there will be in-house seminars on Theory of Knowledge and PYP principles run by well-known external consultants.

So, for the professionally mobile teacher, there are many opportunities for professional advancement.

Discipline

The primary school has a ‘no money’ policy and students are not allowed to bring any money to school except where specific permission is given, for example, to pay for books or as part of a project. All their needs, including stationery, are included in the school fee and therefore money is not needed.

Mobile telephones may be brought for the higher grades in primary as some go to other activities directly from school, but they may not be used during the day. In the high school there is a no ring policy which states it is forbidden to hear phones ringing in the school, otherwise they are banned for the whole community of students. This works well as a policy. Phones are strictly forbidden in classes in both schools for both teachers and students.

Both schools have a policy which emphasizes finding solutions to discipline issues through dialogue and action plans. A detailed policy has been worked out by staff in both schools in this regard and is available in the parent handbook.

In the primary school counsellors are often called upon to provide support and deal with the root of a problem which might arise. Parents are actively brought in as part of the process and the school works together with families to deal with behavioural issues which are persistent. When a solution is not forthcoming there are means available to punish students either through withdrawal of privileges, or, in more extreme cases, exclusion from school. However, in general, a positive atmosphere reigns in the school and resort to the extremes is very rare.

In the high school a similar policy is followed with active action taken immediately. There is a discipline code, published by the Ministry of Education, which is the last resort position for offending students. The counsellor will provide active support in helping resolve persistent cases. A formal discipline committee is appointed at the beginning of each year to deal with particular problems which cannot be resolved through positive action. Again, there is a good atmosphere in the high school and issues are solved prior to getting out of hand.

The schools have an excellent reputation for discipline. Smoking, alcohol abuse, and drugs are not problems which confront the school population in the Özel Bilkent Schools. There is constant security provided by the University and all comers to the school have to declare their identity.

Teachers are responsible for good order and discipline in the classroom through exercising their classroom management skills. It is forbidden in the Turkish system to exclude children from a classroom for whatever reason, and so any action taken has to be dealt with following sound pedagogical principles. Counsellors will provide extended back-up work with students who are signalled as having behavioural issues but will not step in to resolve poor classroom management.

New international staff have to adjust to managing a classroom in which the first language of the students is not English. This may initially present challenges but support is available. These challenges are part of dealing with foreign language learning contexts such as the Özel Bilkent Schools, the mastering of which adds new dimensions to a ESL/EFL teacher’s repertoire and experience.

Overall, the emphasis of the school’s discipline policy is to develop respectful minds and ethical minds, to quote from a video conference in Ankara by Howard Gardner.

All schools in Turkey are no smoking zones and cigarettes may not be used on any part of the premises. New staff need to be aware that the right to leave the premises for smoking breaks is restricted and limited.

Counselling

There are currently 6 counsellors in the two schools (K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 x 2, and a head) who deal with many aspects of the children’s emotional and psychological development.

They provide individual counselling for specific problems, work in groups with the children on issues to do with their normal age-related development, undertake specific projects, provide support to parents, and work on seminars for teachers on aspects of child development. They deal with aspects of testing cognitive and emotional development of children as required by the Ministry of Education, and deliver summaries of these to parents.

They are also involved in career counselling and dealing with exam registration and university selection in the higher levels.

Computing and Technology

Regular teacher parent communication (cf. parent meetings) takes place through the schools’ computerised grade announcement and communication system which was designed by the schools themselves. Most parents have emails and are contactable at short notice through this system. Parents can also see whenever they wish the current status of their children in terms of homework and continuous assessment. Homework from all subjects is inputted into the system on a regular basis as a check to students and parents. Access is by password.

In addition to the school’s computerised grade system, the Ministry of Education has its own on-line grade system for primary and high school education (e-okul), to which parents have access and which provides a summary of student grades, inputted by the school at key junctures in the school year.

Teachers and students are given email accounts with the University’s computer system. The computer backbone for the school, as a result of being linked to the university system, is therefore excellent.

Teachers and students are encouraged to develop their own websites. A reward system operates for teachers who develop sufficiently interactive websites and use them as part of their regular teaching and students’ learning.

The school has 4 fixed computer laboratories, one for K-5, one for 6-8, one for 9-12, and one in the primary school library. There is also a laptop system in the high school which allows the computers to travel to the classrooms.

White boards and data projectors are used extensively in the schools, and are combined with smart boards in many instances. All staff have access to computers in their departmental rooms.

Computer use is well integrated into all aspects of the life of the school, including the classroom, communication, administration, grading, and planning.

Publications

The school publishes a teacher handbook, a diary planner for all staff, a parent handbook, and an active web-site which conveys weekly updates to parents and others about the life and events of the school.

Teachers also publish, notably: textbooks in Math; textbooks for computer teaching in primary education; reading skills and fast reading resource books; counselling books for younger children; well as articles for journals and newspapers.

The school rigorously adheres to rules relating to intellectual property rights, and ethical standards for academic research and publishing. Approval from the school is required for all publishing that represents the school in the community, or which bears the name of the school through association with the author.

Library

The schools have two libraries, one in the Lise building and one in the primary school building. Both have full-time librarians and a relatively large stock of books, and other reference resources. Students and staff may borrow books and a computerised check-out system is in place in both schools. The schools attach much importance to its libraries which are a key part of school life in all IB schools. The schools are continuously developing their library provision as part of the IB initiatives and devote a sizeable chunk of their budget to developments in this area.

Students and staff may also have access to books from the other libraries on campus, viz. the University library and Bilkent University Preparatory School. The University library is one of the best in Turkey with broad access to electronic resources which can be accessed through the school’s computers, or in on-campus housing.

Medical Facilities

Each school has a infirmary and each has a full-time nurse who is on duty during all hours of the school. In addition, a doctor (general practitioner) is in attendance in the primary school for three days a week and is available for consultation by staff, as well as students. The doctor is able to issue prescriptions as required.

The school is also served by the Bilkent University east campus medical centre which is fully equipped, with a team of doctors (including paediatrician) on call at all times, and which can be used for those cases where a more specialised medical facility is required. The centre also has an ambulance service, again on call at all times, for the transportation from any point on campus to the medical centre, or hospital, if the need arises.