In many European and OECD contexts, teaching is no longer understood solely as a pedagogical activity but as a regulated profession shaped by legal frameworks, career structures, and governance reforms aimed at enhancing quality and accountability (OECD, 2019; OECD, 2020). Beyond transmitting curriculum content, teachers are expected to create effective learning environments, guide students toward educational goals, and exercise specialised professional expertise (Başaran, 1993). Extensive research has demonstrated that teacher quality is among the most influential school-based factors affecting student learning and achievement, leading many countries to reorient education policies around the central role of teachers (Darling-Hammond, 2017). As a result, teacher-centred reform agendas increasingly focus on defining the desired teacher profile and restructuring systems of teacher education, recruitment, induction, and continuing professional development (OECD, 2019).
Within this global policy context, the legal regulation of the teaching profession has emerged as a key mechanism for defining professional status, rights, responsibilities, and professional standards. Across Europe and beyond, dedicated legislative frameworks distinguish teaching from general education law and formalise it as a profession requiring specialised expertise (Dönmez Yapucuoğlu & Eryılmaz Ballı, 2022). For example, in Germany, teaching is regulated through state-based public service arrangements that secure employment protections and professional status through constitutional principles (KMK, 2018). Similarly, in Singapore, a centrally governed system links career structures, performance evaluation, and continuous professional development within a coherent legal and institutional framework (Tan, 2017). These cases illustrate a broader trend toward professionalisation through legislation and governance reforms.
This development is closely connected to European debates on teacher professionalism, career pathways, and the governance of professional learning, where issues of status, autonomy, accountability, and working conditions remain highly contested (Monteiro, 2015; OECD, 2020). Although Türkiye is not an EU member state, its education policies are closely aligned with European and OECD policy discourses. In this sense, Türkiye’s recent legal reforms provide a valuable case for examining how professionalisation policies are translated and recontextualised within different national and institutional settings.
In Türkiye, despite repeated education reforms, a comprehensive legal framework addressing teachers’ professional status, rights, and obligations remained limited for many years. An initial attempt was made in 2005 through the Regulation on Promotion in Teaching Career Steps, which introduced career stages (teacher, expert teacher, head teacher) with the aim of supporting professional development and ensuring equal opportunity (Regulation on Promotion in Teaching Career Steps, 2005). However, this arrangement could not be fully implemented due to legal challenges and criticisms related to merit and fairness (Lammich, 2024). Against this background, the Teaching Profession Law was enacted in 2022 (Law No. 7354) and revised in 2024 (Law No. 7528). The revised law seeks to strengthen professional identity by providing a statutory framework, maintaining career steps, and reorganising professional development and employment structures, including the establishment of the National Education Academy (Başol, 2024).
This study explores how key education stakeholders in Ankara—teachers, school administators, and union representatives—interpret and evaluate the revised Teaching Profession Law (No. 7528), focusing on its perceived implications for professional development, rights and entitlements, workplace safety, school-based relations, and the governance of teacher education and recruitment.

This study adopts a qualitative research design grounded in phenomenology, which aims to explore how individuals experience, perceive, and make sense of a particular phenomenon in depth (Creswell, 2013). Phenomenology is suited to examining policy reforms as lived and interpreted realities, enabling an analysis of how legal and institutional changes are understood by those affected. In this study, the approach facilitates an exploration of education stakeholders’ interpretations of the Teaching Profession Law (Law No. 7528) as it is enacted in everyday professional contexts. The participant group consists of teachers, school leaders, and union representatives affiliated with the four largest teacher unions in Türkiye, all based in Ankara. Participants were purposively selected in equal numbers from each union. To capture a range of policy positions and professional perspectives, unions were categorised as either government-aligned or oppositional based on their publicly stated positions and past practices. This sampling strategy ensured balanced representation across contrasting union orientations, allowing for the inclusion of both supportive and critical views of the law. In this way, the study sought to generate a comprehensive account of how different education stakeholders experience and evaluate the reform. Prior to data collection, ethical approval was obtained from the relevant Ethics Committee, and the semi-structured interview protocols were reviewed by academics with expertise in educational policy and qualitative research to enhance validity and clarity (Büyüköztürk, 2019). Separate interview forms were developed for teachers, school leaders, and union representatives, in line with the study’s research questions. These forms were designed to elicit participants’ experiences, perceptions, and evaluations of the law in relation to professional development, rights and entitlements, workplace safety, and institutional relations. To protect confidentiality, participants’ real names were not used; instead, anonymised codes (e.g., K1, K2) were assigned. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Interview questions provided an initial analytical framework, within which codes were generated inductively by identifying recurring patterns and shared meanings across participants’ responses. These codes were then organised into categories and themes, through which the study’s findings were structured and interpreted. The analysis process is ongoing, and the findings presented reflect preliminary patterns identified to date. The research team’s positionality further strengthens the study’s analytical depth. One researcher is a senior scholar in educational administration and education law and the other researcher has experience as a practising teacher. This combination of scholarly and practitioner perspectives enhances reflexivity and supports a nuanced interpretation of the data.

Preliminary findings on the Teaching Profession Law (No. 7528) reveal that while stakeholders view it as a historically significant step for professional legitimacy, it is largely characterized as a "necessary but limited starting point." The introduction of career titles is perceived primarily as an economic incentive rather than a mechanism for pedagogical growth. Because these stages do not translate into distinct roles or responsibilities, they have fostered "invisible hierarchies," leading to school-level tensions and weakened collegiality. Furthermore, training provided via the Teacher Information Network is criticized as superficial, failing to offer a high-quality, systematic professional learning model. Experiences regarding economic rights are described as insufficient. The additional payments for "expert" and "head teacher" titles are criticized for: Not being reflected in base salaries or pension entitlements. Failing to offset the rising cost of living. Leaving core issues like job security and contractual employment unaddressed. While provisions to prevent violence in education are welcomed, their practical deterrent effect is seen as limited. The law’s impact on school relations is double-edged; career titles have, in some cases, undermined perceptions of fairness and professional equality, though some attribute these tensions to individual attitudes rather than the law itself. The Academy is viewed with a mix of optimism and caution. While stakeholders value the potential for practice-oriented mentoring, there are significant concerns regarding meritocracy, the marginalization of universities, and the risk of the Academy becoming a restrictive gatekeeping mechanism. The law provides a vital framework for strengthening the teaching profession's status. However, its long-term success depends on moving beyond "symbolic" changes toward more equitable, coherent, and practice-oriented implementation strategies.

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