The document discusses Bursa, Turkey and Uludağ University located there. Bursa is the fourth largest city in Turkey and has historical and cultural importance as a stop along the Silk Road. Uludağ University was established in 1970 and has eight faculties including education, arts and sciences, and engineering. The Primary Education Department aims to educate classroom teachers and offers bachelor's degree programs in elementary education, early childhood education, and science education. The department emphasizes developing teachers with strong pedagogical skills who are attentive to diversity and cultural issues.
25. ULUDAĞ UNIVERSITY OF BURSA Established in 1970 8 Faculties Faculty of Education Faculty of Medicine Faculty of Arts and Sciences Faculty of Economics and Administrative Faculty of Veterinary Sciences Faculty of Engineering and Architecture Facuty of Agriculture Faculty of Theology 11 Vocational Schools in various parts of the city. The School of Foreign Language 3 Research Institutes
28. Departments in the Faculty of Education Foreign Language Education Primary Education Turkish Language Education Computer Science Education Educational Sciences Physical Education Fine Arts
29. Primary Education Department The department of Primary Education offers four-year programs leading to bachelor’s degree in classroom teaching.
30. Primary Education Department The branch of classroom teaching is a special career which is responsible from the education, instruction and management of the first 5 years of elementary schools.
31. Primary Education Department It doesn’t have special branches; it is a four year curriculum that contains general culture, knowledge of the field and knowledge of teaching. It aims the students to have the needed quality of a classroom teacher.
32. Primary Education Department The integrated Department currently has an academic staff of four professors, nine associate professors, thirteen lectures and eleven assistants and academic groups focusing on many aspects of education
33. Primary Education Department As Department of Primary Education, we are offering three undergraduate programs including Elementary Education Program, Early Childhood Education Program, and Science Education Program. In adddition, we are also offering MA and PhD programs under the Department of Primary Education. We have adapted all our courses to ECTS credits and offering Diploma Supplement to all our graduates.
34. Primary Education Department The main purpose of the program is to educate teachers with a good self-image, an outgoing personality, a sense of humour and an interest in helping children achieve a positive image of their own.
35. Primary Education Department The program also aims to develop teachers with a sound understanding of how children learn; confident in using technology; capable in problem-solving; attentive to human rights, democracy, and ethics. The program emphasises critical thinking, personal reflection, and professional development of preservice teachers.
36. We would like to continue to our presentation with a dedication to Joan Amos Comenius (1592-1670) whose name given to this Project. He was an educator who worked for peace and unity between nations. He was convinced that ”Education is the only way to achieve full human potential”
37. Since cultural perspectives are not usually considered in the curriculum, teachers have difficulties in dealing with the cultural diversity.
38. Considering the fact that, teachers are amongst the most effective agents of reproduction of societies and human civilization, and within the framework of their task, they have to possess flexibility to comprehend multiple viewpoints within a broader social, cultural and political context .
39. Thus we believe that this project have a potential for training teachers who understand different ethnic life styles and cultures. In other words “international teachers” not only be able to communicate and emphatisize better with ethnic students, but also be able to gain an insight into the other countries, their education systems, their languages and their culture .
40. Given the way that diversity, similarly to Turkey, is one of Europe's main assets, furnishing teachers with tools will enable them to deal with diversity in classrooms. Thus we hope, collabrating in this project will allow us to address some of the questions raised by the issue of diversity which we face in Turkey.
41. Turkey is young, dynamic, already assimilated to the west, already heavily involved in the economy of the EU, and with a sturdy entrepenurial spirit. Additionally, numbering nearly four million, Turkish migrants form the largest immigrant group in Europe, and they reside in a number of European countries.
42. In this context, it is of great importance for us being a part of this project which mainly focus on the issue of European diversity, Europen citizenship cultural herritage, and specifically international teachers as being potential generators of changes that determine the ethnic discrimination which individual face in the schools, in the classroom and even in the family.
43. Thus,t eachers can help children develop skills, attitudes and values through play activities which allows to one to explore and examine ethnic and cultural differences in a natural setting.
44. The Faculty of Education of Uludag University is one of the biggest teacher training institutes in Turkey so it is very relevant to this Project. In this context with the support of our teaching stuff:
45. We can direct our students to international projects; We can open elective courses related to the awareness of cultural diversity; We can perform master and doctoral thesis on these issues;
46. We can open international classes in which educational language is English; We can prepare exhibitions about our rich cultural heritage. Anatolia is very rich about folcloric elements of different cultures, ancient cities, monuments etc.
47. Related to the above item folk dancing allows students to enjoy themselves while learning and examining dance in historical, cultural, ethnic, and regional perspective. We can give information about ethnic leisure activities.
48. Like most other cultures our children live in ethnic enclaves while they often play together anda reencoureged to do so by teachers and parents. Neither their teachers nor their parents capitalize upon the natural opportunities provided by play activities to explore to examine ethnic and cultural differences with children. Consistent this we can offer courses or several activities about play in our culture.