Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University
Disadvantaged Children Application and Research Center
ÇABA Multi-Purpose Early Childhood Education Center (ÇABAÇAM) is a project school operating under our center. It is also a community-based education model. Detailed information about ÇABAÇAM is provided below.
In Turkey, it is essential that early childhood education is accessible to everyone and that awareness levels are high. Current data in our country concretely reveal existing needs. For example, while the enrollment rate for five-year-olds across Turkey was 56.89% in the 2020-21 academic year (Ministry of National Education [MEB], 2021), the enrollment rate for four and five-year-olds was 36.79%, and only 28.35% of children aged three to five could access education. Based on these data, it is known that the number of unenrolled children at age five is 552,815, at age four is 1,099,491, and at age three is 1,221,505 (Tunca et al., 2021). The younger the age, the significantly lower the rate of access to education. Looking at the enrollment rates of children under temporary protection/asylum seekers, it is seen that only 27.26% of the total 127,264 preschool-age children nationwide at age five have access to education (MEB, 2021a). Based on all existing data, it is evident that unless early childhood education in Turkey is free and compulsory, models that ensure children’s right to education and provide equalizing opportunities socially, developmentally, and economically in the long term will be needed.
Data on prospective teachers also guide us in identifying needs. According to the statistics of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK), as of 2021, the number of students studying at the education faculties of 207 universities across Turkey is approximately 235,752. The number of students continuing their undergraduate education in the Preschool Teaching programs of 78 universities is 27,044 (Yükseköğretim Kurulu [YÖK], 2021). Since 2018, the reduction in the number of practice courses in education faculties (134 hours of 148 course hours being theoretical and 14 hours practical) has limited the field experiences of prospective teachers. Furthermore, research indicates that prospective teachers who could not conduct face-to-face internships during the ongoing Covid-19 global pandemic and could not experience school and classroom environments face anxiety in their profession and especially have difficulties establishing classroom control (Aktaş Salman et al., 2021). In this sense, prospective teachers need more practical experiences to enhance their professional and personal skills.
In addition to all current situation analyses, it is noteworthy that various plans and programs established to date emphasize the need and importance of community-based early intervention programs to increase the educational access of children from disadvantaged backgrounds. In the 2013 Report of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the necessity of providing free preschool education services to children from disadvantaged backgrounds aged 3-6 and establishing centers that support children's development areas in this context is emphasized. Early intervention programs must have several objectives and components to be community-based. First, they should ensure family and community participation, supporting stakeholder cooperation and encouraging their involvement in decision-making processes, considering local and community needs and resources, aiming to empower all participants, and being culturally sensitive (Dunst, 1995).
The third goal of Preschool Education, as stated by the Ministry of National Education, is to create a common upbringing environment for children from disadvantaged backgrounds and families. The roadmap followed to identify children from disadvantaged backgrounds and maximize their potential should reach everyone who touches the child's life. One of the important points emphasized in the Eleventh Development Plan (2019-2023) and the MEB 2021 Performance Program, in the context of the Ministry of National Education’s long-term goal of achieving a 100% enrollment rate, is the goal of "expanding early childhood education and diversifying community-based early childhood education" (Millî Eğitim Bakanlığı Strateji Geliştirme Başkanlığı [MEB SGB], 2020).
The 2023 Education Vision states that centers, workshops, and mobile bus classrooms will be put into operation to expand community-based early childhood services. Lastly, the third recommendation decision taken under the scope of Equal Opportunities in Education at the 20th National Education Council held in December 2021, "Different models (mobile teacher classroom, mobile classroom, transportation center kindergarten, summer education, transportation education, home-based education, community-based early intervention model, mobile kindergarten, etc.) aimed at the needs of the region and families to facilitate access to preschool education for disadvantaged regions and groups should be developed with their own standards." (Millî Gazete, 2021), directly aims at the dissemination of institutions like ÇABAÇAM.
In summary, to ensure that children from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds can access early childhood services, the Ministry needs to increase the resources allocated to early childhood education. In addition to Institution-Centered Services, there is a need for inclusive, rights-based, innovative, and different models (integrated and inclusive policies) that support a culture of living together, implemented through local collaborations (Civil Society, Universities, Municipalities, Public Institutions and Organizations, etc.). In this sense, the ÇABAÇAM model, based on the collaboration of teachers, prospective teachers, local governments, academics, families, and civil society organizations, serves as an example for community-based early childhood education (Tunca et al., 2021).
ÇABAÇAM, which aims to reveal the potential of children at the center of its focus through a holistic approach and efforts from different segments of society for the benefit of the community, has been serving as a community-based early intervention model in coordination and cooperation with stakeholders such as the University, Non-Governmental Organizations (ÇABA Association), and Local Governments (Kepez Municipality) under the auspices of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University since 2008. Since 2015, in collaboration with the Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants (ASAM), children and families under temporary protection, especially Syrian children, as well as refugees/migrants from different countries, have started receiving education within the ÇABAÇAM Model. Featured as a community-based early intervention program in the 2021 ERG Education Monitoring Report on Students and Access to Education, ÇABAÇAM has directly engaged with 250 children aged 4-6, their families, and over 550 prospective teachers, and has reached thousands of children through its graduates who work as teachers (volunteer educators) in different rural/urban areas of Turkey (Tunca et al., 2021).
The main goal of the model is to provide early childhood education services free of charge within the framework of 'equal opportunities' to children aged 4-6 from low socioeconomic environments (vulnerable groups) who cannot benefit from preschool education. In this context, ÇABAÇAM, which is an early intervention program supporting both children and their families, conducts educational processes at both the child and family levels and helps families support their children’s psychological and academic learning environments at home. The second main goal of ÇABAÇAM is to create an environment for prospective teachers studying at Education Faculties, particularly in Preschool Education programs, at undergraduate/graduate levels to combine theory with practice and learn by doing and experiencing, and to support them in strengthening their individual and professional practices, which are the most determining resource for learning.
Continuing its practices in four different dimensions—centered on the child, including family and close environment, prospective teachers (educators), and society—the ÇABAÇAM Model is based on principles of inclusivity, holistic approach, cultural sensitivity, psychological resilience, integration of theory and practice, research orientation, and participatory approach. In addition to the early intervention program (ÇASEMP) implemented to support the holistic development of children, the model includes unique practices such as Voluntary Teaching, Educator and Family Trainings, Mentoring, Family Circles, Sharing Seminars, Family-Child Activities, Pinecone Change Workshop, etc. Considering the fact that early childhood education is the earliest intervention to address social inequality, the ÇABAÇAM Model, offering a scientific, modern, secular, and democratic educational environment, supports a culture of inclusivity and coexistence, functioning as a multi-purpose, collaborative, research-based, and innovative living laboratory.
Research conducted on the effectiveness of the model reveals that it positively contributes to children's cognitive, physical, language, social, and emotional development, as well as their readiness for primary school, and supports the language development of children under temporary protection/refugees. Selected for the Sabancı Foundation's "Changemakers" Program in 2017, which tells the extraordinary stories of "extraordinary individuals contributing to societal development," and awarded the Contemporary Education Award (ÇEK) in 2019, ÇABAÇAM aims to be disseminated in different regions and universities in Turkey as an alternative education model, utilizing community resources efficiently to provide positive short/medium/long-term outcomes for the community, prevent or minimize existing risks, support early childhood development, and contribute to the field application dimension of prospective teachers' pre-service education by prioritizing children's best interests in cooperation with public, NGOs, local governments, and academia.
Sabancı Foundation Changemakers Video Link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKrdjw5LTgw
Erasmus Plus Strong Kids Link https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=TryxoKXdKlY