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As a country seeking admission to the European Union, this paper explores educational reforms in Turkey that enhance its possible entry into the European Union and changes still needed for it to be an equal partner. An overview of the school system in Turkey is provided including information on teacher training and preparation, special education policy, and post high school participation. Its educational system still faces significant hurdles and must address human rights issues in order to provide equal access and nondiscriminatory education for all. While strides have been made to improve educational opportunities, inequality is still a reality for many females and those of lower socio-economic status. Higher education opportunities continue to improve with infrastructure problems competing to keep pace with the number of facilities available. Turkey continues to address these educational concerns while progressing toward the goal of improving its status as a European Union candidate.

"Close examination suggests at best a tenuous relationship between research and innovative educational policy. Even when research leads to experimentation, its results are difficult to evaluate, because the programs were not designed for rigorous scientific evaluation; moreover, besides unintentionally creating new problems, experimentation is sometimes too ideologically burdened to gain political success. Studies of educational reform must examine the linkages of research to practice, its ties to such goals as democratization, equality, and ideological legitimation, as well as how conventional paradigms of educational planning have actually inhibited reform, and most particularly the role of educational innovation in legitimating the existing political and social structure." (author's abstract)