Prospective Science Teachers' Views related to the Turkish Education System: Current Problems and Proposed Solutions

This study aims at identifying the current problems of the Turkish education system and developing probable solutions in the light of the opinions of prospective science teachers. This study is guided by qualitative descriptive methodology. The participations consists of 518 (336 female and 182 male) prospective science teachers at their final year (senior) in nine different universities during the 2013-2014 academic year. An opinion determination form comprised of open-ended questions is used as a data collection instrument. Study data are analyzed with content analysis as a type of qualitative analysis. The problems and proposed solutions found from the study are grouped under four main headings: structural-administrative problems (32.18%) and solutions (32.54%); teaching-learning problems (35.18%) and solutions (34.35%); problems related to teacher training (23.84%) and solutions (26.94%) and problems related to assessment (8.8%) and solutions (6.17%). As a conclusion, various proposals are made based on the research findings.