Prof. Dr. Ahmet OK

In 1978, Prof. Dr. Ahmet Ok started the Chemistry Teacher Education Program in the Department of Education and graduated in 1983 with the first rank in the department. In November of the same year, he became a research assistant in the Department of Educational Sciences. In 1986, he completed his master's degree and in 1991 his doctorate in the field of Curriculum and Instruction. In 1993 he became an assistant professor, in 2007 an associate professor and in 2015 a professor and he is still working in the same department. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Ok, who teaches different undergraduate, graduate and doctoral courses, has articles published in national and international journals and chapters in the book. Prof. Dr. Ok has supervised 23 Master's and 16 PhD theses until 2022. Prof. Ok, who is an expert in the field of Curriculum and Instruction, conducts research on Teacher Education, Curriculum Evaluation, Accreditation, Sustainability, Environmental Education.

Educational Sciences

The main mission of the Department of Educational Sciences, which is older than METU Faculty of Education in terms of its establishment, is to educate prospective teachers who come to different departments of the faculty by providing them with Teaching Vocational Courses and to train them as forward-thinking, enlightened, responsible, innovative, quality teachers who will glorify the Republic of Turkey. With the same thought and ideal, the Department of Educational Sciences educates experts and scientists by granting master's and doctoral degrees, and with this responsibility and awareness, it makes important contributions to the need for academicians in our country. In this year, 2022, when our Faculty of Education celebrates its 40th anniversary, our faculty and department will continue its mission by carrying it further and will train quality teachers, experts and scientists tomorrow as it does today. Always forward with reason and science.

Prof. Dr. Ali YILDIRIM

The Department of Educational Sciences, of which I have always been proud to be a member, has made significant progress in the past 40 years. In addition to master's and doctoral education in different fields of educational sciences, it has successfully carried out the professional knowledge courses of various teaching programs. Today, many of our graduates, who are teaching all over the country, working as lecturers in universities and researchers in various institutions, are sure to reflect the knowledge and experience they gained in our department to their students and researches, and in this way, the impact of our department on society is becoming more widespread. Our department, which is the "flagship" of our Faculty of Education, has made significant contributions to the better understanding of educational problems and processes in our country and to the development of solutions through its scientific research and publications, as well as the production of knowledge at the international level. Within the framework of close relations with schools, it is one of the important priorities of our department to examine and develop learning and teaching processes together with teachers from a scientific perspective. I have no doubt that success in all these areas will continue in the future and that EDS will continue to make valuable contributions in the fields of education, research and community service.

Prof. Dr. Barbaros GÜNÇER

I am a 1974 graduate of METU Department of Sociology. During my undergraduate education, I received a teaching certificate from the Department of Education, which was then a service department under the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. After my graduation in 1975, I worked as an assistant in the same Department of Education. Between 1975-1980, I received my doctorate degree in "Social Foundations of Education" from the University of Florida, USA with the scholarship allocated by the Ministry of National Education in accordance with Law No. 1416.

When our department was transformed into a faculty in 1982, I was appointed as the first vice dean of the faculty and I continued this duty for ten years without interruption. Later, I served as the head of the Department of Educational Sciences between 1992-1995 and as the Dean of the faculty between 1995-1998. In 1998, I was appointed as a member of the Executive Board of the Council of Higher Education by the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey and stayed in this position for two terms, leaving in 2005. During my long period as an administrator at the faculty, I worked as an executive in important revolving fund projects. The most important of these is the National Education Development Project, which was developed in accordance with the agreement signed between the World Bank and the Ministry of National Education. In this project, which I managed on behalf of our faculty, almost all faculty members of our Department of Educational Sciences actively participated. Within the scope of this project, very important contributions were made to the Ministry of National Education, especially in the fields of management, program development and in-service training. In the first year of my deanship, I was appointed as the Head of the Project Coordination Unit on behalf of YÖK in the Pre-Service Teacher Training dimension of the same project developed by YÖK. In this project, with the help of some of the faculty members of our department, we carried out very important and successful works. Within the scope of this project, we completed the restructuring of all faculties of education in our country in 1998. In this study, faculties of education underwent very serious radical changes in terms of their structures, functions and programs. The details of this very comprehensive project can be found in the relevant literature.

In 1982, before the establishment of our faculty, as I mentioned above, the Department of Education was a modest little department under the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, offering elective courses and teaching certificates. With the September 12 period and the establishment of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK), Faculties of Education were established in many important universities, including METU. The unexpected establishment of the Faculty of Education at our university was met with surprise in our community. More precisely, I would like to say that I personally observed that there was not much satisfaction with this sudden development. When the faculty was established, Prof. Dr. Ahmet Edip Uysal from outside the university was appointed as the dean, a method that our university was never used to. Our newly established faculty had three departments at first: Department of Educational Sciences, Department of Science Education and Department of Foreign Languages Education. When the new dean was appointed, he called us together. As far as I remember, besides me, Meral Aksu, Fersun Paykoç and Füsun Akarsu were also present at that meeting. As you can see, we were a very small faculty and the faculty administration had to be formed. I was appointed as the vice dean and Fersun was appointed as the head of the Department of Educational Sciences, Meral as the head of the Department of Science Education and Füsun as the head of the Department of Foreign Languages Education. I would like to talk a little bit about our dean here. Mr. Ahmet was a closed box because he was appointed from outside. Everyone was wondering what kind of an administrator he would be. Since I was his closest colleague, I had the opportunity to get to know him in a short time. Mr. Ahmet was a professor of English Language and Literature. He had come from Ankara University. He had no managerial experience and, in his own words, did not want to devote a single cell of his brain to this job. Of course, this put a huge burden on my shoulders as a young academic and the first and only vice dean of the faculty. On the positive side, since the dean left everything to us, my colleagues and I were able to carry out the organization, program development and human resources planning of our faculty in accordance with academic conventions without feeling any pressure. Our dean was a well-educated academic who had a good command of both Turkish and English and could use both languages very well. I would like to express that I benefited a lot from him in every subject. He was also a very colorful personality with many different hobbies. For this reason, in the early years of our faculty, it was usually up to me and my friends to chase things at the rectorate floor on behalf of our faculty in terms of the necessary staff, resources and space allocation. For a long time it was not easy for our university to accept and embrace this new faculty. If we were not METU students, this struggle would probably have been even more arduous.

First of all, in the first half of our faculty, which celebrated its 40th anniversary, there were many people who served in our period and made great efforts, and who were the founders of our faculty.

Prof. Dr. Esin TEZER

In 1987, I first taught part-time for one year in the Psychological Counseling and Guidance (PCG) program of METU Faculty of Education, Department of Educational Sciences, and then continued my studies in the same department as an assistant professor between 1988-1995, associate professor between 1995-2000, and professor since 2000. During these years, the courses I taught and the research I conducted focused mainly on individual and group counseling supervision, human relations and especially close relationships. At the faculty level, I fulfilled my administrative duties as a member of the Faculty Board and the Faculty Executive Board. At the university level, I served as an elected member of the University Senate and the University Executive Board. In this process, I participated in the work of the group formed within the framework of the "Supporting Student Development Program" in the strategic planning studies of our university.

I have accumulated many memories in my life in the Department of Educational Sciences. Among these, the ones I shared with my undergraduate and graduate students will remain as the most beautiful memories of love and enthusiasm that still remain alive. Another memory that left a mark on me is the closure of the PDR undergraduate program in 1996 with the decision of the Council of Higher Education. As much as the negative impression it left on me personally, but more importantly, my concern and firm belief that such top-down decisions would lead to stagnation and regression in the field of education. At this point, it is my most important wish for the future that decisions to be taken for all stages of education, both at the level of programs and throughout the country, are based on the principles of contemporary education and within the framework of the opinions of academics in the field.

Prof. Dr. Fersun PAYKOÇ

Dear members of METU Faculty of Education, dear students and colleagues. Hello to you. My name is Fersun Paykoç. I will read from my notes to make good use of time. The year is 1971. The year I finished my master's degree in Psychology at Hacettepe University, I started to work as an assistant in METU Education Department with my friends from different fields. Mr. Turhan Oğuzkan gave us the responsibility to develop education programs related to our field. I was responsible for social studies, social sciences and philosophy group teaching areas. The foundations of our faculty were built on the teamwork of young people who were given trust and responsibility. This situation made me very happy and we young people started to develop programs. We tried to bring innovations at every stage. When I wanted to do group work, one of our students said, "Teacher, is this a primary school? Are we going to do cluster work? How much has changed from then to now. I worked in the field of Curriculum and Instruction at METU Faculty of Education for 33 years. I was the head of the department. After I retired, I continued part-time for four years, collecting memories. Now I work in the fields of museum learning and museum education. After the juries, exams and interviews, if the result was not positive, I would talk to our student or candidate. They would say, "Teacher, after you talked to me, no matter what the result was, I felt valuable and successful, thank you". As an educator, I tried to give priority to raising good people and a positive approach. I saw in the feedback I received that I could be useful in this regard. I realized that a written thank you, a short positive note or my behavior was never forgotten. As an educator, I tried to question and practice two important characteristics. How do my behaviors affect other people, nature and society? Another one is how can I help a person to be emotionally and socially strong and feel valued. One more memory... In the late 80s, two women from the Council of Europe came to visit me. They asked me whether I had the same chances and rights as men in terms of advancement in academic career, being a manager, salary. When I told them that there were no obstacles in this regard, they listened to me with envy and appreciation. This is an indication that our faculty is based on solid foundations. I believe that our faculty will raise good people for many more years with its strong staff, academic, scientific and social achievements and we will continue to change the world, and I wish you success. Thank you very much with my love, goodbye.

Prof. Dr. Füsun AKKÖK

Hello to all of you... In 2004, I retired early as a young adult from my beloved department, which I entered as a young assistant in 1981. I worked as a lecturer in the Department of Psychological Counseling and Guidance, deputy head of the department and deputy director of the Institute of Social Sciences. Today, I am the national advisor of CEDEFOP Careers Net. The energy of our young friends, the work we did with my dear colleagues, the researches and the things we shared with our dear students are always among my fond memories. Of course, I always remember our coffee chats with our friends very well. Today, it is very proud to hear about the achievements of our young friends and the points they have reached, and it always makes me very happy. As you all know, our age is the age of automation, digitalization and artificial intelligence, and of course human skills are always very valuable. There is a very recent report. A very recent report, "The skills imperative 2035 what does the literature tell us about essential skills most needed for work". According to this report, these are the skills that young people should have in the coming years: To be psychologically strong, resilient, flexible, creative, self-confident, empathetic and have strong communication skills, digital skills, problem-solving skills, critical thinking skills, and a predisposition to teamwork and collaboration. I hope that our faculty, with a mission that can feel and see the future, will be a faculty that strives for our students to develop these skills in the complex and varied years ahead, prepares appropriate environments, and also acts with social responsibility awareness, purpose and excitement. I expect it to have a different and valuable place in our university, in our country and in the international arena. Much love and success to all of you.

Prof Dr. Hasan ŞİMŞEK

Hello, my name is Hasan ŞİMŞEK. I am a Professor of Educational Administration. I graduated from Middle East Technical University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Education in 1982. When we graduated, Middle East Technical University Faculty of Education had not yet been established. It was founded in 1983. In 1986, I was sent to the United States of America as a scholarship of the Ministry of National Education to do my doctorate. I returned to Turkey in 1993 and started my professional career at the Middle East Technical University Faculty of Education, the institution I graduated from and the institution I have always loved. I worked as a vice dean for three years. I was the head of the Department of Educational Sciences for two years. Middle East Technical University is my home and I have very special and deep memories in there. When I returned, the Faculty of Education had just moved to the new building where it is now located. We graduated from the Social Sciences building next to the Faculty of Architecture. So I have very good memories of the Faculty of Education in its current building. For 17 years I worked at METU. I received my assistant professorship, associate professorship and professorship from METU. I have very good memories. I know that it is a very valuable institution, and if I have contributed even a little bit to this valuable institution, I would like to express it with happiness. I wish you all success in this distinguished institution. You are working or studying in a very important institution. Middle East Technical University is a culture, a value. I have always been happy to be a part of it. I wish you all success.

Prof Dr. Meral AKSU

Hello everyone. I am Meral AKSU. As a colleague who retired after working in the field of educational sciences for 44 years, I greet you all with love and embrace you all, of course. I started as an assistant in 1974 in the department of education, which was then in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and with the establishment of the faculty of education in 1982, it was divided into two as the department of educational sciences and the department of science education. After starting as an assistant in 1974, I completed my doctorate in 1981. I became an associate professor in 1986 and a professor in 1992. I spent about 20 years of the 44 years I spent at the university in managerial positions. I served as the head of the department, head of the department in the department of educational sciences; previously as the head of the department, assistant head of the department in the department of science education; and as the dean of the faculty of education between 2001-2010. For about three years, I served as the advisor to the rector at the Northern Cyprus Campus of our university. When the department of educational sciences was established in 1982, it was a tiny department. We started with a very small number of lecturers and then the number of lecturers increased and with the devoted and qualified lecturers, the department of educational sciences proved itself both within the faculty, within the university and internationally. At the same time, this year is the 40th anniversary of our faculty. As you can appreciate, it took time for a faculty of education established within a technical university to be adopted. But when we look at it today, the faculty of education has proven itself both within the university, across the country and internationally. You can also understand this by looking at the faculty members of the faculty of education and the department of educational sciences who hold important positions in our university. Now we held the flag in 1982, we started the race and I believe that young people will carry this flag much more successfully. Thank you all. Love to all of you.