Students in Türkiye are allocated a substantial amount of time to learn English at school. Under the weekly timetables in effect for the 2026–2027 academic year, a student whose first foreign language is English receives a total of 1,296 lesson periods from Grade 2 through the end of Grade 12. This figure is based on 36 teaching weeks per year and covers public primary and lower secondary schools and public Anatolian high schools without a preparatory year. The timetables, published by the Board of Education (TTKB) within the Ministry of National Education (MEB), allocate two periods per week in Grades 2–4, three in Grades 5–6, and four in Grades 7–12 (TTKB, 2025a, 2025b). The central issue is turning this allocated time into quality learning opportunities that develop students’ listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.
This policy note examines the conditions that enable classroom time to translate into learning opportunities. It considers the 2013 needs assessment by the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Türkiye (TEPAV) and the British Council alongside recent research and official data. It focuses on five areas: curriculum literacy, textbook use, the assessment system, time students spend producing the target language, and school resources. The start of the school year on September 14, 2026 and the expanding phased implementation of the new high school curriculum provide a timely opportunity to establish a concrete framework for monitoring these areas. Strengthening opportunities for meaningful language use within schools is also important to reduce disparities arising from differences in access to private tutoring, language courses, and paid digital resources (MEB, 2026a).
You may read note from here.
