MAARIF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CAMP CONCLUDES
July 11, 2026
Maarif Professional Development Camp, organised by Turkish Maarif Foundation to bring together education personnel working in different parts of the world, has concluded. The two-week programme, held in Ankara’s Kızılcahamam district, was attended by school principals, accounting personnel and Turkish language teachers working at Turkish Maarif Foundation educational institutions in 66 countries. The camp aimed to support professional development, strengthen institutional cooperation and promote a shared understanding of quality across educational processes.
During the first week of the programme, which brought together personnel from more than 600 educational institutions across six continents, sessions were organised for school administrators and accounting personnel. The second week was dedicated to Turkish language teachers working in different countries. The sessions addressed a wide range of topics, including educational administration, supervision and guidance processes, financial literacy and language teaching. Participants had the opportunity to share their experiences and develop joint solutions to the challenges they encounter.
During the second week, which was devoted to Turkish language teachers, initiatives aimed at improving the quality of Turkish language teaching came to the fore. Attended by 165 participants from 37 countries, the programme covered the relationship between culture and language, the role of Turkish language teaching in developing thinking skills, teaching methods that enable students to connect Turkish with everyday life, and the development of country-specific educational materials.
During the sessions entitled “Inspiring Teachers” and “Reflections in the Mirror of Culture”, teachers working in different countries shared their field experiences with their colleagues and discussed examples of good practice as well as possible solutions to the challenges they face.
Özdil: Quality Will Be the Focus of the Second Decade
Speaking at the closing ceremony, President of Turkish Maarif Foundation Mahmut M. Özdil said that Turkish Maarif Foundation had focused on strengthening its institutional presence in different countries during its first decade, while deepening the quality of education had become the priority for the new period.
Highlighting the importance of Maarif Schools establishing strong relationships in the countries where they operate, Özdil emphasised the need to further improve the quality of educational content and increase the impact of educational activities. President Özdil made the following remarks:
“During the first ten years, we worked to establish our presence, institutionalise our operations and build trust. In the second decade, we must now place our quality, educational content, the depth of our activities and the impact we create at the centre of our efforts. Although access to knowledge has become easier today, the role of schools and teachers is not merely to transmit information. Their role is to develop students’ character, willpower and conscience and to strengthen the culture of living together.”
Özdil also addressed the role of Turkish language teachers in Turkish Maarif Foundation’s international education vision. Stating that Turkish is not merely a means of communication, he drew attention to teachers’ responsibility in transmitting culture.
“Our Turkish language teachers are not merely the bearers of a curriculum or the implementers of a programme in the classroom. Turkish is one of our most important assets, carrying our shared memory, experience, culture and way of thinking. It is therefore essential for our teachers to understand the language, culture and ways of thinking of the societies in which they work, and to enrich Turkish through new encounters while encouraging their students to appreciate the language.”
Throughout Maarif Professional Development Camp, participants discussed topics such as developing a culture of quality in educational processes, Maarif workshop and club activities, the planning of international events, students’ character development and innovative approaches to language teaching.
Music, traditional tile art and ceramics workshops organised as part of the social and cultural programme also strengthened interaction among colleagues from different countries. The talks entitled “A Travelogue of East Turkistan” by journalist Taha Kılınç and “The Desire to Write” by Prof. Dr. Mustafa Kurt were among the programme’s notable events.
