Turkey has a long tradition of school inspection carried out by officials of the Ministry of National Education. Inspectors have historically combined three roles that many other systems separate: guiding and supporting teachers, checking that schools comply with legislation, and investigating complaints and disciplinary matters. Since 2011 the inspection system has been reorganised several times, and its titles, structure and legal basis have changed with each reform. This page summarises the system as it stood in October 2026.
Current structure
Inspection is organised at two levels.
| Level | Unit | Staff | Main role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central | Inspection Board (Teftiş Kurulu Başkanlığı), reporting to the Minister | Chief inspectors, inspectors and assistant inspectors (başmüfettiş, müfettiş, müfettiş yardımcısı) | Inspections and investigations on behalf of the Minister; coordination of provincial inspection |
| Provincial | Education Inspectors’ Directorate (Eğitim Müfettişleri Başkanlığı) within each of the 81 provincial directorates of national education | Education inspectors and assistant education inspectors (eğitim müfettişi, eğitim müfettiş yardımcısı) | Guidance and inspection of schools and institutions in the province, examinations, preliminary inquiries and investigations |
The Inspection Board’s role is set out in Presidential Decree No. 1 (2018), Article 320, and in the Ministry’s Inspection Board Regulation (Official Gazette, 11 April 2023, No. 32160). The work of provincial inspectors is governed by the Education Inspectors Regulation (Millî Eğitim Bakanlığı Eğitim Müfettişleri Yönetmeliği, Official Gazette, 1 March 2022, No. 31765).
Under that regulation, education inspectors carry out guidance (rehberlik), inspection (denetim), research, examinations (inceleme), preliminary inquiries (ön inceleme) and investigations (soruşturma). Each provincial directorate prepares a three-year guidance and inspection plan, and inspection data are recorded in the Ministry’s electronic inspection system.
How the system has changed
| Year | Change |
|---|---|
| 2011 | Decree-Law No. 652 replaced the Ministry’s Inspection Board with a Guidance and Inspection Directorate and created two groups of inspectors: national education inspectors in the central organisation and provincial education supervisors (il eğitim denetmenleri) |
| 2014 | Law No. 6528 merged both groups under the title maarif müfettişi and placed them in inspectors’ directorates in each province |
| 2016 | Law No. 6764 abolished the provincial inspectors’ directorates and created central posts of Ministry maarif inspectors |
| 2018 | Under the presidential system, Presidential Decree No. 1 set out the duties of the Ministry’s Inspection Board (Teftiş Kurulu Başkanlığı) in Article 320 |
| 2021 | Presidential Decree No. 78 allowed provincial directorates to employ education inspectors; Presidential Decree No. 87 abolished the maarif müfettişi titles, converting provincial inspectors to education inspectors |
| 2022 | The Education Inspectors Regulation set out the recruitment, training and duties of provincial education inspectors |
| 2023 | A new Inspection Board Regulation was issued for the central inspectorate |
The frequency of these changes is itself a theme in Turkish research on supervision. Each reform shifted the balance between central and provincial control, and between the inspector’s supportive and investigative roles.
Recruitment and training
Under the 2022 regulation, assistant education inspectors were recruited by competitive examination from among teachers with at least eight years of service and graduates of certain faculties such as law, political science and economics. Assistants then followed a three-year training period before taking a qualification examination for appointment as education inspectors. Many of these provisions were annulled in December 2025 (see below), so the recruitment rules should be checked against current legislation.
Recent court decisions
The legal basis of the inspection system has been contested in the courts.
- In decisions of 18 December 2025, made public in 2026, the Second Chamber of the Council of State (Danıştay) annulled numerous provisions of the Education Inspectors Regulation, including provisions on the oral examination, recruitment and the powers of assistant inspectors. According to published summaries, the court held that these provisions had lost their legal basis after the Constitutional Court annulled the statutory provision on which the regulation relied. The decisions could be appealed.
- The Constitutional Court had earlier annulled parts of the presidential decrees that reorganised inspection in 2021, on the ground that some of these matters had to be regulated by law rather than by decree.
As of October 2026, we found no new regulation replacing the annulled provisions.
Lesson observation by principals
In 2025 the Ministry issued a directive that made school principals, subject-group heads and mentor teachers responsible for observing and evaluating teachers’ classroom practice, with Ministry and education inspectors acting as external evaluators. In 2026 the Council of State stayed the execution of the whole directive, holding that, under Article 19 of the Teaching Profession Law, rules on teacher evaluation must be set by regulation rather than by directive. The stay is an interim measure, not a final annulment, and the question of who observes teachers’ lessons remained unsettled in October 2026.
Research on supervision in Turkey
Turkish research has long described the inspection system as focused on compliance and paperwork, and has argued for developmental and school-based forms of supervision. Our page on educational supervision models places these debates in an international context.
- Developmental Supervision and Teachers’ Professional Growth trained primary school principals in Glickman’s developmental model. Teachers described their earlier experience of inspection as judgemental and stressful, and the new approach as supportive.
Key terms
| English | Turkish |
|---|---|
| Inspection Board | Teftiş Kurulu Başkanlığı |
| Education inspector | Eğitim müfettişi |
| Guidance | Rehberlik |
| Inspection / supervision | Teftiş / denetim |
| Investigation | Soruşturma |
| Council of State | Danıştay |
See also our glossary.
Sources
- Decree-Law No. 652 on the Organisation and Duties of the Ministry of National Education. Official Gazette, 14 September 2011, No. 28054.
- Law No. 6528. Official Gazette, 14 March 2014, No. 28941.
- Presidential Decree No. 1 on the Presidential Organisation, Article 320. Official Gazette, 10 July 2018, No. 30474.
- Millî Eğitim Bakanlığı Eğitim Müfettişleri Yönetmeliği. Official Gazette, 1 March 2022, No. 31765.
- Millî Eğitim Bakanlığı Teftiş Kurulu Yönetmeliği. Official Gazette, 11 April 2023, No. 32160.
- Constitutional Court of Türkiye, decision E.2021/89, K.2024/8 (18 January 2024). Official Gazette, 17 April 2024, No. 32520.
- Official legislation portal of the Republic of Türkiye. https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr
Last reviewed: October 2026