Pupils

  1. When does school start and when does it finish?: We have three groups of students. First group is first year students, they have 6 hours lessons a day and 30 hours a week. Second group is industrial groups, they have 7 hours lessons a day and 35 hours a week. And the last group is technical groups, they have 9 hours lessons a day and 45 hours a week. School starts at 8:00 and ends at 16:00. Lessons last 40 minutes and there are 5 minute breaks between two lessons. There is also a lunch break between 12:30 and 13:00.
  2. What subjects do pupils have in general education?: Turkish grammar and literature, foreign language (English is most common), history and Kemalism, geography, technical drawing, philosophy, physics, chemistry, visual arts, religion, citizenship, computer skills, sport are common lessons for each group.
  3. How many years do pupils go to school?: The compulsory education in Turkey is 9 years. 1 year Nursery School and 8 years Primary School. Secondary school education is not essential but it's very general for every people and it lasts 4 years.
  4. Are there complimentary activities at the school?: There are a lot of clubs like sport, chess, folk dances etc. There are technical evening courses. These courses are cost-free for everyone who would like to improve their skills and last between 18:00 and 21:30 every evening.
  5. How many hours do pupils spend on homework?:  It depends on the students, teachers and difficulty of the subjects. But we can say it changes between half an hour and 2 or 3 hours.
  6. How do pupils spend their free time?: Playing football and other sports, surfing on the internet, going out to meet friends etc.
  7. How long does it take to get to school and what means of transport do you use?: If your school is far away from your home it can take hours to access to school because of traffic. But it changes from 10-20 minutes and to maximum 1hour in generally.
  8. What system of marks do you have in your country?: Marks are given out of 5. 2 is the minimum to be successful.
  9. What are the job prospects after school?: After graduation, it is not very easy to find a job without university diploma and/or additional certificates. Because there are a lot of young people in Turkey and most them have a unvisited diploma so they have improve their skills with the additional courses.
  10. How long are your holidays?: The summer vacation lasts about 2 months. There is also a 2 week winter holiday in January.
  11. Tell us the best and worst thing that can happen at school.: The best: Finishing school with good grades, finding good friends. The worst: Get bad marks and repeat the year, not accepted by other pupils and teachers.
  12. Attendance - What happens if you skip classes?: Every teacher fills the attendance list every day and every lesson. If a student doesn't attend one or more lesson it' noted down and the parents are informed after every 5 days of. A student has maximum 19 days unattendance right in a year. If he or she gets over 19 days he/she fails and repeats the year.
  13. At what age do children start school?: At 6.
  14. How many students (on average) are in the classroom?: It changes between 15 and 55 dependingly school's geographical position, whether the lessons are vocational or academic, whether school is private or public.

Office Workers

  1. How many hours do people work a day/a week: An accountant works 8 hours a day and 48 hours a week.
  2. Are there paid holidays?: Yes there are paid holidays for every working people. It depends on their working period. If someone works more than 10 years, paid holidays last 30 calendar days, if he/she works less than 10 years paid holidays last 20 calendar days.
  3. What kind of clothes do people have to wear?: An accountant has to wear dress suit.
  4. What are the 10 most important/the basic rights working people have?: Their rights are: maternity leaving, social health insurance, paid holiday, lunch at work, bonus payments for better performance and overtime working, sick leave, unemployment payment for losing job, minimum wage right.
  5. What welfare benefits do you receive when somebody is losing their job?: They get a unemployment payment which depends on their working period and salary. At the same time they receive unemployment wage for 6 months of they have worked for at least one year. This payment is about %60 of their net salary.
  6. What kind of qualification and diploma, certificates etc. do people need?: University diploma on Accounting or Business Administration is required to be an accountant. Proficiency in English and computer knowledge get you advance in position and better salary.
  7. What is the approximate range of  payment and what kind of flat can you afford for that salary? (basic-regular-luxary): An accountant can earn 1500-2000 TL (about 700-900 Euros) a month. He or she has to save money at least 10 years to buy a basic flat.
  8. How many years must you work before going on retirement?: A woman has to work at least 25 years and a man 30 years to go on retirement.
  9. At what age can you go on retirement?: Retirement age is 60 for women and 65 for men.
  10. Are there any physical or psychological diseases directly connected to your job?: Backache, cellulite and varicosis are most common physical problems. And an accountant can have stress related psychological problems.
  11. What motivation is there to improve the results of your work?: Better performance can get you bonus payments, better position and more paid holidays.
  12. Do both adults have to work to support family?: Both adults don't have to work for basic life standarts. They have to work and earn money if they would like to improve their life standarts.
  13. Who takes care of your children?: Relatives usually look after the children when parents are working. Sometimes parents need to hire a babysitter.
  14. Do both parents have maternity leave and how long?: Yes, it's about 6 months for a mother (2 months before birth and 4 months after birth) and 5 days for father.

Industry or Trade Workers

  1. How many hours do people work a day/a week: A mechanic works 5 days a week and about 12 hours a day.
  2. Are there paid holidays?: There is a 30 calendar days paid holiday.
  3. What kind of clothes do people have to wear?: A mechanic has to wear lab coat when he/she is working.
  4. What are the 10 most important/the basic rights working people have?: Their right are: sickness leave, maternity leaving, minimum wage, lunch at work, social health insurance, right to be represented by labor organization, right to be a representative in labor organization, overtime wage.
  5. What welfare benefits do you receive when somebody is losing their job?: They get a redundancy payment which depends on their working period. At the same time they receive unemployment wage for 6 months of they have worked for at least one year. This payment is about %60 of their net salary.
  6. What kind of qualification and diploma, certificates etc. do people need?: They need vocational school diploma about machinery to be a mechanic. They also have to attend in-service courses to improve their skills.
  7. What is the approximate range of  payment and what kind of flat can you afford for that salary? (basic-regular-luxary): The average payment of a mechanic is about 2500-3000 TL (about 1200-1500 Euros). They have to save at least 6-7 years to buy a regular flat.
  8. How many years must you work before going on retirement?: A woman has to work at least 25 and a man 30 years to go on retirement.
  9. At what age can you go on retirement?: A woman can retire at her 60 and a man at his 65.
  10. Are there any physical or psychological diseases directly connected to your job?: Backache is the most common physical problem of mechanics. And they also get their fingers or hands caught in a machine. They also can have stress related psychological problems.
  11. What motivation is there to improve the results of your work?: Bonus payments are best performance improver for professionals.
  12. Do both adults have to work to support family?: Both adults don't have to work for basic life standarts. But both of them have to work if they would like to improve their life standarts.
  13. Who takes care of your children?: Most commonly the relatives look after the children if both adults work. Or they can find a babysitter to take care of them.
  14. Do both parents have maternity leave and how long?: Yes, it's about 6 months for a mother (2 months before birth and 4 months after birth) and 5 days for father.

Academic Professional

  1. How many hours do people work a day/a week: A lecturer works 30 hours a week, 6 hours a day and makes scientific researchs lots of hours.
  2. Are there paid holidays?: Academic people have 20 days paid holiday if their job experiment is less than 5 years. Otherwise they have 30 days of paid holiday.
  3. What kind of clothes do people have to wear?: They usually wear trousers, shirt, tie and jacket.
  4. What are the 10 most important/the basic rights working people have?: Their rights are: Social club membership, Social security, Health and life insurance, Public housing, Lunch at work and Improving their professional skills.
  5. What welfare benefits do you receive when somebody is losing their job?: Retirement compensation
  6. What kind of qualification and diploma, certificates etc. do people need?: University degree is not enough to be a lecturer. They have to do their mastery and doctorate. They have to pass the exams that are prepared by institution. They also have to publish their academic work conclusions.
  7. What is the approximate range of  payment and what kind of flat can you afford for that salary? (basic-regular-luxary): Lecturers earns between 2500 – 10.000+ TL (about 1100 – 4400+ Euro) dependingly their proficiency and working period. A lecturer can afford a regular house if his/her job experiment is more than 10 years.
  8. How many years must you work before going on retirement?: Ladies must work at least 20 years and gentlemen must work 25 years.
  9. At what age can you go on retirement?: The retirement age is 60 for a woman and 65 for a man.
  10. Are there any physical or psychological diseases directly connected to your job?: Eye diseases is most common problem for all lecturers.
  11. What motivation is there to improve the results of your work?: Technology is continously growing so they need to keep thier knowledge up to date. A new invention or discovery is the biggest motivation source for an academic person.
  12. Do both adults have to work to support family?: In the global world both adults have to work to support better life standart.
  13. Who takes care of your children?: Usually babysitters or relatives take care of the children.
  14. Do both parents have maternity leave and how long?: Both parents have maternity leave rights. It’s 1 week for fathers and 6 months (2 months before birth, 4 months after birth) for mothers.