Investigation of Turkey and Australia’s Teacher Education Systems and Accreditation Policies

The aim of this research is to examine Turkey and Australia’s teacher education systems and accreditation policies. The document analysis model, one of the qualitative research designs, was used in the study. Data was gathered from up-to-date official documents, reports and websites; articles, books and academic dissertations. Data obtained from the resources were arranged in four categories which are; (i) historical background of the regulations aiming to improve the quality and effectiveness of teacher education, (ii) current teacher educations system, (iii) teacher education program standards, (iv) accreditation models. Then, Content analysis was used to determine the similarities and differences between practices of the countries in respect of these four categories. As a result of the study, it was concluded that although both countries started designing a national accreditation model and standards for teacher education in the late 1990s, it was never applied in Turkey and it was given less importance in the following years. Australia, on the other hand, has given great importance to this issue and kept improving its model and standards throughout the following years