The second study visit within the scope of ODAP was held in the Hague, Rotterdam, Sneek and Groningen cities of the Netherlands between 23-25 November 2022.

The staff of the General Directorate of Secondary Education in the Ministry of National Education paid visits to the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science as well as Ingrado (National Association for School Attendance Officers and Early School Leaving Professionals), 1 Municipality and 2 schools in Zuidwest Friesland region and DUO (Education Executive Agency) and exchanged their knowledge and experience with the officials in the related institutions within the scope of the study visit, which was carried out in order to observe the activities and best practices concerning the prevention of the early school leaving and absenteeism in the Netherlands.

Preparatory work continues for the last one of the study visits, which are intended to contribute to the development of the Integrated Model of Prevention, Intervention and Compensation and the Early Warning System in the secondary education.

The workshop for development of a mentoring services teacher guideline to be piloted in 50 schools in 14 provinces within the scope of ODAP was organised in Ankara on 11-14 October 2022.

Members of the Operation Coordination Unit, the personnel of the central organization of the Ministry of National Education and provincial directorates of national education, the teachers of the relevant fields in the pilot schools participated in the workshop. The workshop started with a presentation delivered by the members of the Technical Assistance Team about the objective of the Project and the activity after the opening speech of Ms. Emine Akıncı, the Head of Department of Research, Development and Projects of the General Directorate of Secondary Education in the MoNE.

In the activity, firstly, presentations concerning the main reasons for absenteeism and early school leaving in the pilot provinces of the Project were made.

In the informative sessions of the workshop, information was provided on the methods used for the development of the mentoring services guideline, conceptual framework of mentoring, benefits of these services and Resilience-based Developmental Mentoring (RDM) Model. Following the briefings, the participants reviewed in detail the draft sections of the Resilience-based Developmental Mentoring (RDM) Model to be developed within the scope of the project through group works, and shared their observations and opinions.

The second workshop on the development of an Early Warning System (EWS),implemented within the scope of ODAP, was organised in Ankara on 27-28 September 2022.

The workshop started with a presentation on the review and evaluation of the findings obtained in the previous workshop held in the same context.

On the first day of the workshop, the content of the reports to be provided to the schools via the Early Warning System, intervention methods as a result of these reports and intervention timings were reviewed by the participants through group works and their suggestions were received. On the second day of the workshop, data development, data analysis, action plans and the timing of the pilot implementation of the system were discussed and suggestions were obtained.

The Early Warning System, the preparatory work of which started as of March 2022 and the development of which covers a long period, will be finalised by the experts in line with the outputs obtained from the two workshops that were held. The Early Warning System to be used by the teams formed at the schools during the pilot implementation period of the Project will continue to be improved in accordance with the feedback received from the field.

We would like to thank the Ministry of National Education personnel, academicians, school counsellors, representatives of relevant NGOs for their contributions to our workshop.

The second workshop on the development of the content of catch-up/compensation classes within the scope of ODAP was held in Ankara on 23-25 August 2022.

The workshop started with the opening speech of Ms. Emine AKINCI, the Head of Department of Research, Development and Projects, who also acts as the Operation Coordination Unit Head in the project, and information provided by the Project Technical Assistance Team on the current situation of the project and the activity as well as upcoming activities.

Content prepared in the field of mathematics to be piloted within the scope of the catch-up/compensation classes was reviewed by the officials of the beneficiary institution, subject teachers and academicians.

The first workshop on the development of an Early Warning System (EWS), which will be implemented within the scope of ODAP, was organised in Ankara on 20-21 September 2022.

The workshop started with the opening speech of Ms. Emine AKINCI, the Head of Department of Research, Development and Projects, and information provided by the Technical Assistance Team about the objective of the project and workshop and main reasons for absenteeism and early school leaving in the pilot provinces of the Project.

Project Technical Assistance Team and experts in their fields delivered presentations on the concept of early school leaving, the European Union’s overview of early school leaving, and policy measures to reduce early school leaving in the European Union, including the Early Warning System, and the process of developing an early warning system in Türkiye

In the following sessions of the workshop, planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting tools of the Early Warning System (EWS), and roles and responsibilities and job descriptions of the EWS Teams were discussed by the participants through group works and their suggestions were received.

Ministry of National Education personnel, academicians, school counsellors, representatives of relevant NGOs and Provincial Directorate of National Education personnel participated in the workshop.

The second workshop on the development of the content of Creative Educational Activities to be piloted in 50 schools in 14 provinces within the scope of ODAP was held in Ankara on 16-18 August 2022.

Ms. Emine AKINCI, the Head of Department of Research, Development and Projects, delivered the opening speech and the Technical Assistance Team provided information about the current situation of the project and the activity as well as upcoming activities. Creative educational activities in the fields of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) / creative laboratory activities, music, drama and performing arts, physical education and sports, visual arts were discussed in the workshop on the development of the content of the creative educational activities, which will contribute to increasing attendance rates of students, by the officials of the Ministry of National Education, subject teachers and academicians and the content was revised in accordance with the recommendations.

The first workshop on the development of the content of catch-up/compensation classes to be piloted within the scope of ODAP was held in Afyonkarahisar on 2-4 August 2022.

Following the opening speech of Mr. Metin YALÇIN, Provincial Director of National Education in Afyonkarahisar, who honoured us with his participation in the workshop, brief information on the project and presentations about the objective of the workshop were provided by Ms. Emine AKINCI, the Head of Department of Research, Development and Projects, and the Project Technical Assistance Team. In the workshop on the development of the content of the catch-up/compensation classes, which will contribute to increasing attendance rates of the students, the content of the catch-up/compensation classes in the fields of Physics, Chemistry and Biology was reviewed by the officials of the Ministry of National Education, subject teachers and academicians and revised in accordance with the recommendations.

The first workshop on the development of the content of Creative Educational Activities to be implemented within the scope of ODAP was held in Afyonkarahisar on 2-4 August 2022.

Following the opening speech of Mr. Metin YALÇIN, Provincial Director of National Education in Afyonkarahisar, who honoured us with his participation in the workshop, Ms. Emine AKINCI, Head of the Department of Research, Development and Projects, and the Project Technical Assistance Team provided brief information on the project and delivered presentations about the objective of the workshop. The roles of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) / creative laboratory activities, music, drama, performing arts, visual arts, physical education and sports, which are among the creative educational activities that will contribute to increasing attendance rates of students, were discussed and draft content of the creative educational activities was developed through working groups.

A “Brainstorming Meeting” concerning the desk review and benchmarking study was implemented in Ankara on 28 July 2022. The workshop started with the opening speech of Ms. Emine AKINCI, the Head of Department of Research, Development and Projects of the General Directorate of Secondary Education in the MoNE and continued with the presentations of the technical assistance team concerning the project and content of the meeting.

In the meeting attended by the members of the Operation Coordination Unit, the project technical assistance team, the Ministry of National Education staff and the pilot school representatives, the desk review, benchmarking study, key informant interviews (KII) and the results of the online survey under the title of Scientific and Technical Studies, which is the third intervention area of the project, were examined and evaluated. After this activity, it is expected that the Report on Desk Review, Benchmarking Study, Current Situation and Needs Analysis will be finalised.

The official opening conference of the Technical Assistance for Increasing Attendance and Enrolment Rates in Secondary Education was organised in Ankara on 26 July 2022. The opening conference, which was hosted by the Deputy Minister of National Education Prof. Dr. Petek AŞKAR, started with the opening speeches of the Deputy Director General of Consortium leader Eductrade S.A. Mr. Julio NOGUÉS, Director of European Union and Financial Assistance of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security Ms. Süreyya Erkan and Deputy Head of Economic and Social Development Section of the European Union Delegation to Türkiye Mr. Laurent GUIRKINGER.

In the sessions held following the opening speeches, Lecturer in the Faculty of Education in Balıkesir University Prof. Dr. Uğur GÜRGAN and Academic Advisor in the Institute of Education of ORT Uruguay University Dr. Gabriel Diaz MAGGIOLI delivered their presentations respectively on Attendance and Enrolment Rates in Secondary Education in Türkiye and Early School Leaving in the European Union. In the last session of the opening conference, a panel on “Attendance and Enrolment Rates in Secondary Education”, moderated by Prof. Dr. Uğur GÜRGAN, was held with the participation of the Head of Department of Student Affairs and Social Activities of the General Directorate of Secondary Education of the MoNE Mr. Serkan KOCABAŞ, Lecturer in the Faculty of Educational Sciences of Ankara University Prof. Dr. Şakir ÇINKIR, UNICEF Equal Opportunity in Education Program Manager Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kâmil KURTUL and School Principal of Keçiören Genç Osman Anatolian High School Ms. Semiha BUDAK BALI as panellists.