Türkiye’s Educational Heritage: Reflections of Village Institutes on Medical Education

İngilizce (OpenAlex)

In this article, it is aimed to talk about the reasons for the establishment of the village institutes, the philosophy on which the education was based, and to interpret the reflections of this experience on the philosophy and practices of medical education. The Village Institutes are revolutionary as an education model that is unique in the world. If the Village Institutes had not only been limited to training village teachers, but had laid the foundation for a broad educational structure from primary education to higher education, and if its philosophy had been integrated into medical education, modern models of medical education based on community-oriented, problem-solving, rather than the discipline-based approach recommended by the Flexner report, could have emerged from Turkey. The Village Institutes, one of the unique experiences in Turkey's educational history, is a valuable legacy of the Republic. In the future, medical education in Turkey can be reshaped by drawing inspiration from the philosophy and educational policies of the Village Institutes.