The first one of the Workshops for the preparation of the National Strategy Paper, planned to be developed based on the lessons learned and feedback received during the piloting stage of ODAP took place in Ankara on 7-8 March 2024 with the participation of the Department Heads in the General Directorate of the Secondary Education of the Ministry of National Education (MoNE), relevant Ministry advisors, experts, and representatives therein, academicians from Ankara University, Hacettepe University, Başkent University, and Bahçeşehir University as well as the unit managers, school principals, vice principals from the pilot provinces of the project.

The opening speech of the programme was delivered by Ms. Figen SEKİN, the Operation Coordination Unit Coordinator and Head of Research, Development and Projects Department of the MoNE. Then, the Team Leader Ms. Cleofe GUARDIGLI provided information on the progresses made within the scope of the Project for the participants.

During the morning session of the first day of the programme, the participants were provided with the information on the national strategy paper (NSP) preparation process and project outputs, which will be the subject of the document. The focus of the groupwork, which was conducted in the afternoon, was the national reference documents, responsible institutions, and the set purposes which will be used while preparing the NSP.

The morning session held on the second day of the programme started with the groupwork and the participants were requested to share their opinions related to the actions that will support the achievement of the goals discussed on the first day of the workshop. In the afternoon session of the programme, the participants were provided with the information on the samples from the EU and other country strategies.

At the end of the programme, the participants made a general assessment of the workshop.

The 1^st Workshop for The Preparation of the National Strategy Paper was concluded with the presentation of the certificates to the participants and the family photo being taken.

Before starting the implementation of the mentoring services which were activities prepared within the scope of ODAP, an online Mentoring Information Workshop has been organised on 8^th February 2024 with the participation of the representatives of ODAP School Team in the 50 pilot schools and the psychological counselling and guidance teachers as well as all other teachers who will carry out the mentoring services at schools.

The information related to the scope of the mentoring activities, which will start in the second semester of the academic year in all the pilot schools, the implementation methodology, the way to fill out the evaluation forms and report has been provided to the workshop participants.

Mentoring activities will be carried out by the subject teachers under the supervision of the psychological counselling and guidance teachers at schools. In order to provide guidance before the implementation, Mentoring Services Teacher Guidelines and Booklet on Sample Activities were prepared and delivered to the schools within the scope of ODAP. The schools were informed that they could also download the documents on the website of ODAP.

It is planned that minimum 30 students will benefit from one-to-one mentoring services and minimum 70 students will benefit from group mentoring by the time of the end of the academic year.

Being one of the activities carried out within the scope of ODAP with a view to preventing early school leaving (ESL), Parent Information Meetings have been started to be implemented in the pilot provinces with the participation of the parents. The series of meetings, the first one of which was carried out in Şırnak in October, was later conducted in Ağrı, Ankara, Hakkâri, Sakarya, Şanlıurfa and Çankırı with the participation of the parents of the students studying in the pilot schools. The Information Meetings in the remaining pilot provinces will have been completed by mid-December.

Aiming to create awareness of ODAP Integrated Model among the parents and inform them of the importance of regular school attendance, Parent Information Meetings are conducted as a half-day meeting each including three separate sessions.

In the meetings where the difference the parental support makes on students’ engagement in school and its contribution to the improvement of students’ academic and social skills are presented, the parents are informed of the available education opportunities.

In the first session of the meetings, where the information related to the situation regarding ESL in Türkiye and the importance of putting in place an integrated approach that shall tackle ESL in secondary education are disseminated, the parents learn about the scope and purposes of ‘prevention,’ ‘intervention’ and ‘compensation’ model.

In the second session, working groups are created, then they work on the proposed solutions with a view to tackling early school leaving. In the last session, the outcomes from each working group are presented to all the participants.

The meetings, which were held at the weekend in order to facilitate the participation of the working parents, not only provide up-to-date information to the parents about the activities under ODAP but also allow for disseminating the message on the importance of education. Furthermore, these meetings serve as an important platform to measure the perceptions of the parents on education in general, learn their views on ODAP Integrated Model and Early Warning System, and develop cooperation opportunities.

Carried out to create awareness among the parents and inform students and parents of the importance of the school attendance, Parent Information Meetings were completed in Bingöl, Nevşehir, Trabzon, Afyonkarahisar, Hatay and Tekirdağ.

The series of meetings, the first one of which was carried out in Şırnak, was later conducted in Ağrı, Ankara, Hakkâri, Sakarya, Şanlıurfa and Çankırı in October.

Organised for the parents of the students in the pilot schools, Parent Information Meetings are held as half-day meetings consisting of three separate sessions.

In the meetings, which target creating awareness of the learning outcomes to be achieved thanks to ODAP Integrated Model as well as emphasizing the importance of parental support on the improvement of students’ academic and social skills, parents are provided information as to the available education opportunities.

Aiming to raise awareness about the prevention of early school leaving among the students’ parents and disseminate the messages on the importance of education, the series of Parent Information Meetings ended after the last meeting was carried out in İstanbul.

There was great interest in the meetings held with the participation of many parents in 14 pilot provinces. Contributing to strengthening cooperation among the school and parents, the meetings allowed the parents to have a direct interaction with the MoNE representatives as to the education system, provided supports etc.

The meetings are seen as one of the important activities under ODAP in terms of raising awareness among the parents in relation to the prevention of the early school leaving.

The seminar, which was organised to inform students and their parents of the reintegration of the school-leaving students back into the education system and to ensure that these students should come back to school, was carried out one last time, after the one in Trabzon, and completed finally in İstanbul.

Aiming at reintegrating the school-leaving students in pilot schools back into education, the seminars attracted great attention from the students and parents.

The first one of the seminar series organised under ODAP was carried out in Şırnak in October while the second was held in Ankara. The third of the seminars was conducted in Şanlıurfa with the participation of the students having left formal education and of their parents.

Being conducted to monitor and inform the pilot schools of the implementation process of ODAP Integrated Model, the school visits have been ongoing.

School Visit Teams, which are composed of 2 experts from the TAT, 2 staff members from the Ministry of National Education, and 2 staff members from the Provincial Directorates of National Education, completed the visits made to the pilot schools in Hakkâri, Sakarya, Şanlıurfa, Bingöl, Nevşehir and Trabzon.

The teams have been in the field in order to guide the implementation processes in the pilot schools and collect feedback about potential deficiencies.

Going into the field with the start of 2023-2024 academic year, the School Visit Teams completed the first round of the school visits. The final visits took place in Hatay, İstanbul, Ankara and Tekirdağ and the visit schedule included a 2-day programme.

Each of the 50 schools in 14 pilot provinces was visited by the School Visit Teams so that the schools could be guided in terms of the implementation of ODAP Integrated Model.

Having been carried out to detect potential problems in advance to ensure better functioning of the Model, the school visits will start again in the 2^nd semester of the academic year.

2^nd Coordination Meeting under ODAP was conducted in İstanbul on 11 and 12 January 2024 with the participation of the Department Heads in the General Directorate of Secondary Education of the Ministry of National Education, relevant staff of the Ministry, vice-principals in the pilot provinces, unit managers, guidance teachers and the teachers in charge of the EWS in the pilot schools.

The meeting was held within the framework of the main goals of ODAP in order to present the progresses made and upcoming Project activities as well as analysing the potential challenges of the implementation phase of the ODAP Integration Model.

The first day of the 2^nd Coordination Meeting, which continued for 2 days and where the recommendations and risk mitigation strategies were discussed with the 50 pilot schools in order to ensure smooth implementation, started with the opening speeches.

Thereafter, ODAP Team Leader informed the participants about the progress made within the scope of the Project. The importance of keeping the School Action Plans updated was emphasised, and participants were informed about the results of the monitoring visits in the field.

The 2^nd Coordination Meeting continued with the presentation of the updated & latest status of the Early Warning System and with the information to the participants about the improvements made on the EWS upon the problems observed in the field.

Then, groupwork stated. The participants came together around the tables according to the provinces they came from and worked on the improvements that should be made on the EWS and provided recommended solutions specific to their provinces.

The first day of the meeting ended after the presentation of the groupwork results and receiving feedback.

The second day of the 2^nd Coordination Meeting focused on “Mentoring Services”. In the first session, where the guidance teachers from the pilot schools participated online, information was provided about how the mentoring services should proceed.

In the second session, information was provided about the Creative Educational Activities to be implemented in the second semester of the academic year. Working groups were established and recommendations on the school fests and Activity Labs Fair and Competition were discussed.

The 2^nd Coordination Meeting ended after the information on the activities to be carried out in the upcoming months was provided, participants received their certificates of participation, and a family photo was taken.

Additionally, the participants received Information Booklet, which was specifically prepared for the 2^nd Coordination Meeting.

The fourth of the Operation Coordination Meetings, where the progress made and the future activities under ODAP are shared with the Project stakeholders, were held in Ankara.

The representatives of the stakeholder institutions and organisations supporting the project, the representatives from the European Union Delegation to Türkiye, Ministry of National Education, and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, being the Contracting Authority of the Project, Operation Coordination Unit members as well as the technical assistance Team attended the meeting.

4^th Operation Steering Committee started with the opening speech of the Project Director Mr. Louis Tanguy. Thereafter, the Sector Manager in the European Union Delegation to Türkiye, Prof. Dr. Mustafa Balcı took the floor and requested the participants to share their opinions by stating that a lot of progress had been made so far within the scope of the project. “We will benefit from your experience for the better implementation of the Project” added Prof. Balcı.

Talking on behalf of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Mr. Osman Murat Çetin, Department Head in the General Directorate of Foreign Affairs and EU, stated that education was key to the rise of the country and that was why their Ministry attach great importance to conducting projects with the Ministry of National Education.

Then, Ms. Hatice Özdemir, Head of Private Bureau Department in the General Directorate of Secondary Education took the floor and expressed that they aimed to ensure that children come to school with pleasure in order to keep them in the education system. “Türkiye extends along a very large geography; thus, the reasons why children do not come to school vary. We are trying to raise our children for the ‘Century of Türkiye’ with many different projects” said the Department Head Ms. Özdemir.

After the opening speeches, ODAP Team Leader Ms. Cleofe Guardigli provided information related to the activities carried out within the previous 6 months of the Project.  Information on ODAP Integrated Model and Early Warning System was also provided, and planned activities for the next months were shared with the participants.

The meeting ended after the received questions were answered and participants’ feedback was received.