An Alternative Educational System Based on the Opinions of Educational Stakeholders : Home Schools

Schools, which enable children to socialize and adapt with the society, are obliged to undergo changes over time. With this respect, many alternative educational practices have been developed. Home schools, whose applicability has increased recently, are only one of these alternative educational practices. The main purpose of the implementation is to remove the bad habits acquired from schools and to enable cultural transmission. There are no comprehensive studies in Turkey on homeschooling. This study was conducted to determine how homeschooling is perceived and its applicability in Turkey. The study group consists of teachers, school administrators and educational inspectors working in secondary schools. A total of 23 focus group discussions were carried out with the participants and qualitative research method was used. The stakeholders were asked to state their opinions on the question “What do you think homeschooling is?” and then general information was given by the researcher. When the opinions are considered, there are differences among the stakeholders. After general information was given by the researcher, answers for the question “Is homeschooling applicable in Turkey? Why?” was sought. With this respect, the opinions were classified as positive, negative and suggestions for possible


Introduction
Every information has the chance of being wrong or misleading in its own perspective.Education has to struggle against the two-sided threat of knowledge (Morin, 2010).While trying to resist against these threats, change in the educational system and its understanding, based on the changing and developing technology, is inevitable.
Many societies are dwelling with the question which education is ideal for children.In order to answer the "What kind of a society", the question "How should a child be educated?" is directed.In child education, Sophists emphasized the importance of knowledge, Platon emphasized the importance of conveying adult ideals through a disciplined manner, Rousseau emphasized inclining towards nature, Locke emphasized promoting learning through habits, Kant emphasized physical and mental development, modern pedagogues emphasized discipline and order, the church staff emphasized sticking to otherworldly values, liberal philosophists emphasized liberty, communists like Marx emphasized production-oriented education, liberals like Illich emphasized the importance of extinguishing educational institutionalism (Inal, 2008).Different understandings also bring about different perspectives.Schools, which have been present from early civilizations to today, enable children to socialize and identify themselves with the society.However, it is not possible to understand whether or not schools respond to the desires of people.The only way to understand this is to decide on what the desires of people actually are (Ratner, 2010).However, it is rather difficult to understand the desires of people.Each individual has different characteristics and can have different desires.These various desires have paved the way for alternative understanding for the current traditional education systems and schools.According to what Aydin (2002) narrated from Coeyman, it is quite difficult to define what really is an alternative school.However, it is possible to define alternative schools as schools which are components of the social system, which furnish and support students who are unsuccessful in the academic field and which are not classified under the traditional approaches.
Compulsory education, in its modern sense, was established in Prussia in 1819 to attain these five goals (Hern, 2008, as cited in Yildirim, 2011):  To train obedient soldiers for the army,  To train obedient employees to work in mines,  To train civilian workers who will be fully obedient to the governments,  To train civil servants who will work under the order of industrial structures,  To train citizens who have similar perspectives on critical issues and problems.
While the book "Emile", written by J. J. Rousseau, was the first example of criticism against schools; schools were criticized strictly by B. Russel in 1935.Discussions on schools gained a new perspective in 1970's with I. Illich's book "Deschooling Society" (Gunduz, 2006).As a result of these criticisms, alternative educational models were developed assuming that education can be also carried out apart from traditional schools.Alternative educational practices are not structures that were established as resistant's against the current educational system.Home schools, which are one of the alternative educational practices, are applied mostly in developed countries.Many examples of this practice can be offered at home or officially as an alternative education model.This method, which is an appropriate option for families who do not send their children to school due to religious and academic reasons, was initially applied as a crucial approach in 1977 by John Caldwell Holt (Evokulluluk, n.d.).Homeschooling is defined as the education given to children at home or in the surrounding by the family or by other families arranged by the family (Taylor & Petrie, 2000).In addition, it can be defined as giving whole or a part of the education to children at the age for formal education through their families or by people assigned by their families (Sad & Akdag, 2010;Papadopoulou & Yirci, 2013).The general sense of homeschool practices is, as evident from the title, the children receiving education at home rather than at school.According to Hadderman, home schools refer to an alternative for public or private schools offered to families to educate their children; according to Paiss, families who resort to homeschooling play a primary and crucial role in the education of their children (Aiex, 1994).
According to the study results, the reasons why families, who implement homeschooling, prefer home schools are listed below (Princiotta, Bielick, & Chapman, 2006):  1 that the school environmental factor, as a reason why home schools are preferred by families, accounts for 31% of homeschooling.Families don't have trust in the internal and external environment of schools.Families prefer homeschooling so as to protect their children from this insecure and threatening environment.30% of the families stated that they prefer homeschooling so as to promote religious and moral education.When the results of the study are considered, it can be concluded that 6% of the families prefer homeschooling because their child has physical or mental disorders.
Homeschooling is commonly practiced in the United States of America.The interest in home schools has increased globally due to the bad habits gained from schools and the negative criticisms.One of the main factors why homeschooling is practiced is because it promotes cultural transmission.However, no large scale studies have been conducted in Turkey about homeschooling.This current study was conducted in order to determine how homeschooling, which has many successful international examples, is perceived in Turkey and its applicability.

Methodology
With respect to the study objective, the "content analysis" model, which is a qualitative research method, was applied in the study.While deeply examining a social problem, the researcher begins the qualitative study by asking the questions "what" and "how" along with "why" (Creswell, 1998).With this respect, the focus group discussion technique was used.Focus group discussion refers to making discussions or interviews on a popular and certain with people who were selected (Glesne, 2013).Focus group discussions refer to a subject being dwelled upon and discussed by groups of four to 12 people, under the inspection and guidance of the researcher.It is also a research strategy consisting of deep discussions and interviews carried out over a certain period through various means on a certain focus or a problem (Marshall, 2005).

Reasons Why
The study group consists of teachers, administrators and educational inspectors working in secondary schools.The criterion sampling method, which is a purposeful sampling method, was used in the study.The main principle in this sampling method is examining every condition that makes up for the previously determined criterion pattern (Yildirim & Simsek, 2011).The data on the number of focus group discussion sessions and number of participants of the study are presented in Table 2. Before preparing the data collection instrument, an appropriate literature review was carried out and interview questions were determined.It is crucial to treat the participants equally and collect as much and as accurate data as possible for the reliability of the study (Denzin, 2010).The question "What do you think home school is?" was directed to the participants initially.After collecting the opinions, the researcher explained the term homeschooling and the current applications in general terms.In the following stages of the interviews, opinions on the question, "Is homeschooling applicable in Turkey?Why?" were gathered.
The computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software QSR NVivo 8, was used in analyzing the qualitative data.The formula "Percentage of Consensus (P) = Consensus / (Consensus + Dissent) x 100" developed by Miles and Huberman (1994) was used for the reliability of the study.Reliability is confirmed in studies prepared with the qualitative research design when the similarity between expert and researcher evaluations is 90% and above (Saban, 2004).According to the calculation, this value was 98% and the study was considered as reliable.

Findings
Findings of the study were analyzed based on the opinions of educational stakeholders.The theme displaying the opinions of educational stakeholders gathered in 23 sessions on the question "What do you think home school is" is presented as Figure 1: Sufficient number of opinions was not stated for this question during the interviews with the inspectors.The educational inspectors expressed four opinions for the three themes.These opinions were placed under the Home Education, Home School and Preparation for School themes.Opinions on these themes are given below: EI4: Education given at home.Thus, facility and financial problems do not occur.However, it is not convenient for higher education.But I find home education as an appropriate implementation.(Home Education) School administrator opinions were placed under three themes.These themes are; Home School, Individual Program and Distant Education.An example of a participant opinion is given below:

SA4: I liked it for program diversity. I thought of each child preparing a program suitable for himself. But I don't know how an individual program at home will be when he has one at school. I mean he can follow his own program in the learning process. (Individual Program)
When teacher opinions are considered, they were placed under the Distant Education, Home Education, Home School, Health and Open Education themes.• Volume 3 • Issue 1-2 • 2014 Teachers were observed to state most opinions on the "Distant Education" (n=9) theme.Opinions emphasized that distant education can be possible as a result of technological development.Example of the opinions on these themes is given below: GUT2: I thought of a system carried out online or like distant education.I think education is going to be carried out like this.On the computers, without having to go to school.(Distant Education) GUT7: I think only Erkin Koray applied this in Turkey.I heard he never sent his daughter to school.It's an alternative sense of education.(Home School)

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When the thematic scheme of the analysis is observed, it is evident that the parents stated 28 different opinions.Parent opinions were gathered under three main themes.These themes were; Home Education, Distant Education, Unplanned Education and Open Education.The Home Education theme consists of two sub-themes.These sub-themes are School at Home and Health.The sub-dimension of the "Home Education" theme is significant as it obtained the highest number of parent opinions.While there were 16 different opinions for the "School at Home" sub-dimension, there were two opinions for the "Health" theme.Examples of these opinions are given below by staying loyal to their original form: GUF8: What comes to my mind when I think of homeschool is assigning a part of the education given at school to parents and experiencing the responsibility of education in the family setting.For example, parents carry out their observations with their children about the courses, about eating habits, about games, about behaviors at home and they do this with a program.I don't think it is one-to-one and about only the courses.(School at Home) TF3: This is the system most prone to being disrupted.In addition, our children are now socializing at school.If it weren't so, we would have turned into a disclosed society.I thought of unplanned and randomly educating children.(Unplanned Education) Analysis results of student opinions were similar with the other stakeholders.The opinions were placed under the themes Distant Education, School at Home, Home School and Private Lesson.Examples of student opinions are:

GUS5: Courses can be taught through electronic devices and through the television. Mutual interaction and communication is hard this way, but this is what came to my mind. (Distant Education) GS10: Branch teachers who come to every course can be giving extra lessons. (Private Lesson)
The thematic scheme displaying participant opinions on the question "Is homeschooling applicable in Turkey?Why?" through the focus group discussions is shown in Figure 2. Educational stakeholders gave positive, negative and suggestion opinions on this question.According to Figure 2, there are 239 opinions placed under the themes.Educational inspectors stated five opinions, the school administrator stated 18, the teachers stated 100, parents stated 52, and the students stated 64 opinions.The thematic figure displaying analysis results is: When inspector opinions are considered, it is evident that they expressed four positive opinions and one suggestion.The positive opinions were placed under the themes Easing the System, Optional and Freedom.While two opinions were stated for easing the system theme, one opinion each was stated for the optional and freedom themes.Some of these opinions are given below: EI5: I think it will be fruitful for parents in Turkey who wish to raise their children with their own value systems.Home schools will be beneficial both for the family and the student who is incompatible with the society.(Optional) EI2: Yes, passing towards the actual by creating a complementary model for the structure is obligatory for creating a model which will support the structure during specific terms.However, infrastructure practices should be carried out.Pilot areas should be established if necessary.(Suggestion) Positive school administrator opinions was placed under the themes "Decreasing the Governments Burden" and "Freedom" themes.An example of these opinions is given below: SA1: There is a religious and an economic basis for this.The government has slowly become free of health.Especially in Europe this has been achieved significantly.With the family medicine system, we are still at the beginning in Turkey.Health is a burden on the government, but it is becoming free of it.It is now thinking how it can become free of the educational burden.This practice is definitely an advantage for it.

(Decreasing Government Burden)
When negative opinions of school administrators are considered, it is evident that they are compatible with the themes Psychological Reasons, Disorder, Supervision, Educational Policies and Social Appropriateness.SA2: I am rather worried about these changes.Everything can suddenly change without any preparation and any foundation.We still carry our old understandings, but this is not sound for education.We don't have such an option where education is considered.The reason for this is because our raw material is human here, we can't think of it being on the market and produced.(Educational Policies) SA4: If certain regulations are made about certain criteria, then the system might be beneficial.However, opinions of all the parties in education should be gathered while determining the criteria.It shouldn't remain as a simple practice.If this is achieved, then the applicability in Turkey will not be questioned any more.(Suggestion) When the 20 positive opinions expressed by teachers are considered, it is evident that there are five sub-themes under this main theme.The themes related to the opinions were Pedagogical Reasons, Diversity, Equality and Justice, Desire to get Results in the Short Term and Transient-Distant to Transportation Areas.When teacher opinions are considered, most of the positive opinions were stated for the "Pedagogical Reasons" (n=9) theme.

GT3:
Certain institutions of the government will improve families as well.Relative seminars will be given to families too.The important factor here is the family.We don't only consider the student as an individual.We think of the family as well.We need to educate families so they can train their children.When we think logical, the family will be educated and problems will be prevented.(Pedagogical Reasons) GT1: The important thing is to educate humans.Thus, a certain degree of being humane is important.People need different ideas to be able to develop.Democracy is impossible without different opinions.We need to become aware of the differences.There needs to be different people to be able to become aware of the differences.If there is only the same, then divergence won't occur, only the same of type of people will exist.These same types of people are raised in schools.(Diversity) Teachers expressed mostly negative questions about the applicability of homeschooling in Turkey.These opinions were gathered under eight themes by the researcher.These themes were Pedagogical Reasons, Educational Policy, Social Appropriateness, Socio-Economic Condition, Supervision, Divergence from Education, Inequality and Future Anxiety.Examples of the 17 opinions stated for this theme are given below: GUT2: As mother and father, even though we are both teachers, we still don't trust ourselves.I still wonder whether or not we are doing wrong while raising our child.

Our biggest problem is due to not knowing how to do what at the right time. (Pedagogical Reasons) GUT4: I think this system will lead to social class differences and conflict of generations. (Equality)
There were also suggestions among the opinions stated by the teachers.These statements were placed under the "Suggestion" theme.Examples of the eight opinions stated for this theme are given below:

GT1:
The supervision mechanism is assessed with regards to education, but it should also be assessed with regards to guidance.If this system takes place, it would be good to examine its condition every two months with regards to guidance.
When the opinions of parents are considered, it is evident that 40 opinions were placed under the positive theme and 12 opinions were placed under the negative theme.Opinions on the positive theme were classified under six sub-themes.These themes were Self-Improving Families, Optional and Easing the Burden of the School.

GF3: If the responsibility was assigned to us we would have felt a bit guilty. Maybe we can improve ourselves a bit this way. It's actually a good method. The parents and the child should get along with each other. (Self-Improving Families)
GF1: It is actually a different subject for Turkey.I have three children, maybe the homeschool system is more advantageous.Giving lectures to three students at the same time rather than educating only one student may be advantageous.It seems possible.Leaving the right to choose optional is a logical.(Optional) The sub-themes under the theme which teachers stated negative opinions were; Pedagogical Reasons, Social Characteristics, Socio-Economic Conditions, Future Anxiety, Divergence from Education and Failing to Promote Discipline.

GF1: I find it negative as well. Not all parents have single children. They have one, two or three children. I think it will be difficult to apply homeschooling and offer support from different branches to each of them. (Pedagogical Reasons)
ÜNİVERSİTEPARK Bülten • Volume 3 • Issue 1-2 • 2014 EF2: Due to the Turkish family structure we are a bit emotional.We can't stand our children facing difficulties.We can't promote authority at home.(Social Characteristics) 25 of the opinions states by students, who constitute the basis of education, on the applicability homeschooling were placed under the positive theme.These opinions were classified into sub-themes and the analysis process was completed.Sub-themes for the positive theme were; Freedom, Diversity, Economic Condition and Transient-Distant to Transportation Areas.

TS2:
We sometimes get frightened by our teachers at school, we want to express a different idea but we keep thinking about what the teacher would say.However, we will be more free at home.I think that this reason is enough for it to be applied in Turkey.(Freedom) TS5: Artists, soldiers and police always change the cities they reside in.Homeschooling is more ideal for them.

(Transient-Distant to Transportation Areas)
Along with the 25 positive opinions on the applicability of homeschooling in Turkey, there were also negative opinions.There were 37 negative opinions and these opinions were placed under seven sub-themes, which were; Pedagogical Reasons, Failing to Promote Discipline, Social Appropriateness, Change, Social Isolation, Divergence from Education and Socio-Economic Condition.

GUS5:
Because Turkey is an agricultural society, many families sustain their living through agriculture.For example while one parent is a farmer and the other is a housewife.We don't have many teachers or doctors.For example, agriculture is more common here than in America.Families working in agriculture can educate their children on agriculture.For example my father can teach me how to harvest wheat, but this won't help me in my exams.(Pedagogical Reasons) TS10: We, as Turks, are very lazy people.Let's admit.When we go to school we wake up early, it helps us to start the day early and we go to our school.We at least have a certain performance.I am satisfied with my performance.If I were at home I would always be in bed and play with the computer.Study a little bit in order to waste time or play with the computer.Why?Because it is not obligatory, I am receiving education at home.Most of the students will do this.Everyone will be more free at home.(Failing to Promote Discipline) TS6: I think I'm interrupting but I think it shouldn't be applied in the East.There should be schools in the East.Because in the East, umm, when the child receives education in the family setting the family might reject to teach him and for example can make him work in the farm or other places.I don't find it guaranteed for those children.Teachers sometimes try to convince them at school.But homeschooling is impossible in the home setting.If it is implemented in Turkey then there will be children who diverge or are forced to diverge from education.

(Divergence from Education)
There are also suggestions among student opinions.These suggestions refer to collecting the opinion of the majority after the decision on the implementation is taken.The opinions stated are given below: TS4: I think opinions should be resorted to.Parents and students should be resorted to for their opinions.In fact, everyone in the education process or who has received education should be asked and then it should be implemented.(Suggestion)

Conclusion and Discussion
The fact that homeschooling is not directly implemented in Turkey, that there are very few studies conducted on this topic and that the current studies are generally remained as literature reviews has set limitations for the discussion section.Metaphors related to homeschooling and results and suggestions of educational shareholder's opinions concerning the applicability of homeschooling in Turkey are given in this section.
Before giving general information on homeschooling, the participants were initially asked for their opinions on home schools.Educational inspectors expressed opinions about students continuing their education in the home setting.They also stated that home schools are places where preparations for the common schools are carried out.School administrators thought of homeschooling as an implementation where the individual characteristics of the students are taken into consideration.They also stated that distant education can be possible.Teacher opinions were more diverse.Teacher stated similar opinions with educational inspectors as home education.However, while educational inspectors considered it more superficially, teachers stated that homeschooling can be implemented due to health problems.They also asserted that they consider homeschooling as a distant and technology-assisted education.A group of teachers think that it can be referred to as distant education.Results of parent opinions are similar with the composition of teacher and student opinions.Unlike the other stakeholders, parents stated that homeschooling is an unplanned way of education.Students interpreted it as teachers giving live courses through the internet or on television.A group of students stated that it refers to teachers coming to their houses and giving the courses.It is also interpreted as taking private lessons at home as well as at schools.They stated that they think teachers from every branch would come to houses and help students out in the subjects they didn't understand well.In general, when participants were asked what they think about home schools, there were many opinions defining it as education given by the family.These opinions are similar with the definition in Stafford's (1998) study on home schools and with participant opinions in the study conducted by Broadhurst (1999) stating that homeschooling is the educational program arrangements carried out by families for their own children.After general information about home schools and its implementation was given by the researcher, the participants were asked to state their opinions on the applicability of the implementation in Turkey.Positive and negative opinions and suggestions on possible cases were stated for this dimension.
When the opinions of educational inspectors are considered, it is evident that they stated positive opinions and suggestions.The inspectors didn't state negative opinions on how the practice can be implemented in Turkey.They stated that if implemented in Turkey, it would ease the system and this would be rather positive.It is also thought that it will promote freedom as well, because it is optional for everyone to prefer it or not.They suggested that if the implementation is to be adapted to Turkey, trials should be conducted initially on pilot areas.School administrators stated opinions for each of the positive, negative and suggestion titles.Education causes serious financial difficulties for the ÜNİVERSİTEPARK Bülten • Volume 3 • Issue 1-2 • 2014 government.However, it is stated that the government will be financially relieved if the implementation takes place.In addition, not only the government, but the individuals and societies are thought to experience a liberal understanding of education.Along with these positive features, there were also negative opinions.Homeschooling is also not found sound for Turkey due to its disadvantages.Pedagogical reasons, supervision, failing to promote order, educational policies have paved the way for negative opinions.School administrators also stated that homeschooling is not convenient for the Turkish social order.The suggestion made by school administrators concerning its implementation was that if the implementation is going to practice in Turkey, then the criteria should be initially determined.They stated that opinions of each educational shareholder should be collected while determining the criteria.
When the findings related to teachers are considered, it is evident that there are many positive and negative statements.The most outstanding statement in teacher opinions is that pedagogical reason was placed under the positive theme.Teachers think that if homeschooling is implemented in Turkey then the families will also have to improve themselves.Because they don't want their children to fall behind their peers, they will show extra effort and improve themselves as well.They also stated that they believe it will be a beneficial implementation for the children of families with transient professions such as police, soldiers and artists.Teachers emphasized that home schools will pedagogically encounter both positive and negative outcomes.They stated that educational policies and the social structure are not convenient for the implementation.However, if it is practiced, then divergences from education may occur.Failing to promote supervision at a sufficient level will lead to inequalities to emerge.If an alternative educational system is going to be adopted in Turkey, then a unit or an institution on this issue should be established.Necessary seminars and trainings should be offered to families.Supervision should not only be at the educational level, but supervision should be carried out on family guidance as well.
When parent opinions are considered, while there are opinions for the positive and negative titles, there are no opinions on the suggestion title.Parents believe that if homeschooling is practiced in Turkey, then families will improve themselves.They focused on the optional characteristic of the implementation and stated that it can be effective.It was stated that with the implementation, the burden of schools will decrease and classroom sizes will become more convenient.In addition, parents believed that they will not be sufficient for the education of their children.They emphasized that they don't have knowledge on every subject and that this will lead to negative effects.
It was also stated that homeschooling is not convenient for the Turkish social order (Yılmaz, 2013;Colak, Altinkurt, & Yilmaz, 2014).They underlined that there are families where the mother and the father work at the same time and that one of them will have to quit work for this implementation.When a parent has to quit work then economic conditions of the family will encounter problems.It was also stated that it would negate the efforts made for increasing schooling rate in Turkey.
Students stated that the implementation will increase freedom in Turkey.Free individuals will create free societies.They think they can promote diversity this way.They state that this will be quite a beneficial implementation for unsettled people and those who have transportation difficulties.In addition, it is also stated that it is not socially convenient for the Turkish nation.Participants stated that it is not logical to implement it with regards to ÜNİVERSİTEPARK Bülten • Volume 3 • Issue 1-2 • 2014 promoting discipline.Students also expressed that it is not appropriate to abandon the current system and transfer to another system and undergo change.They also state that they will be negatively affected by socialization.Suggestions stated for the implementation were carrying out the change by applying a questionnaire throughout Turkey.In addition, opinions of the stakeholders should be obtained at every stage of the implementation.
Participant opinions on homeschooling stressed that the upcoming individualized education will not be advantageous.With this implementation, an understanding inconvenient with the unity of education principle is thought to be adopted.This opinion was also stated in the studies of Tosten and Elcicek (2013).One of the main criticisms made against home schools was that families lacked the necessary pedagogical competency.This opinion was also stated by Farrel and Ryan (2006).Assigning all the responsibility related to education on less trained families will lead to negative perceptions on homeschooling.This opinion is related to the economy dimension.There were also opinions stating that one of the parents will have to quit work if homeschooling is implemented.According to the literature, when the income level decreases from two to one, then financial problems will be encountered (Farrel & Ryan, 2006).
According to another result expressed by all the stakeholders, the place, time and way of education will be optional to the individuals.Similar findings with this result are present in previous studies.It is widely known that families have the right to make decisions on the best way to teach what and how to their children (Hunt, 2000;Ray, 2002;Topkaya, 2013;Martin, 2007).One other reason why families stated that homeschooling is applicable was due to being away from the negative effects of schools or the desire to keep their children away from them.In the literature, this opinion is among the reasons why home schools are frequently preferred (Princiotta et al., 2006).When considered more clearly, the majority of the positive and negative opinions of the participants reflect the reasons why home schools are preferred or not preferred.Opinions related to economy were also stated by Sad and Akdag (2010) as the reasons why home schools are preferred.One other reason why home schools are preferred is due to the desire to create more secure physical learning environments (Basham, Merrifield, & Hepburn, 2007).This study puts forward the fact that there physical problems in the field of education.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Metaphors related to homeschooling It is evident from Figure 1 that educational inspectors, school administrators, teachers, parents, and students expressed their opinions.A total of 96 opinions were stated about homeschooling.Educational inspectors stated four opinions, the school administrators stated three, the teachers stated 30, parents stated 28, and the students stated 31 opinions.

Table 1 .
The Reasons Why Homeschools are Preferred According to Families It is evident from Table

Table 2 .
Number of focus group discussion sessions and participants