RETHINKING THE FUNCTIONS OF EDUCATION IN CHANGING TURKEY: A Study on Parents' Expectations from Primary and Secondary Schools

This study, directed towards the parents of the pupils continuing their educational life at the primary and secondary schools, aims to reveal what kind of expactations the parents have on these schools. The intricate interaction of education with other social institutions -economics, politics and culture- and the fact that education has vital importance in terms of these institutions make it necessary to study or do research on educational systems. The primary and secondary schools involved in our educational system took form according to the expectations of the government within historical process and expectations of the people from these schools were disregarded. The scope of this study includes 677 parents in the central district of Osmaniye in the second term of the education and training year 2009-2010. Findings indicate that the parents' expectations from primary and secondary schools are their children's growing as self-confident individuals who are aware of their responsibilities, able to communicate well with others, who will be able to attend good quality secondary schools and who can find a good job in the future.