An Evaluation of Institutions Assigning Teachers for Teaching Turkish Abroad and Their Teacher Selection Processes

Turkey assigns teachers/academics abroad to help Turks living overseas learn their native language and stay connected to Turkish culture and to enable foreigners to learn Turkish and become acquainted with Turkish culture. As a result, Turkish can now be taught face-to-face in more than a hundred countries. This study investigated which institutions assign teachers abroad and how the assignment process works. Within the scope of the research, variables such as the teacher selection method, required qualifications, duration of the assignment, and the scope of duties during the process from application to departure abroad were examined. The study, conducted as qualitative research, gathered its data through document analysis. For this purpose, published guidelines and announcements on the institutions’ official websites were treated and examined as documents. In the analyses, a scenario was developed to highlight the similarities and differences between the institutions. The evaluation found that the Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Turkey, the Yunus Emre Institute, and the Turkish Maarif Foundation assign teachers or academics abroad. These institutions carry out their assignments based on written and oral examinations. However, there are differences among them in terms of the type of assignment, duration of the assignment, and salary.