What Are the Curriculum Implementation Difficulties by Teachers of Syrian Students?

In recent years, the rapidly increasing number of Syrian students started to be trained in public schools affiliated with the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) raises various problems. Syrian students who are included in the same class as Turkish students without a specific preparation process both have difficulties themselves and causes various discipline problems to all stakeholders such as teachers, parents, administrators and especially Turkish students. In this study, the difficulties experienced by teachers who teach Syrian students at the primary education level are examined in terms of their curriculum. As the curriculum is the most important guide that draws the boundaries of the instruction process and determines how the process should be, and teachers act as an important bridge in the realization of the curriculum in the classroom environment; the difficulties teachers experienced in the implementation of the curriculum will provide important information about the reality of education and give ideas about the arrangements that should be made in the curriculum, if any, or the need for a new curriculum.


Introduction
Leaving a place of residence driven from social, political, or economic reasons for a different settlement in a country is called immigration (Turkish Language Association, 2021). Migration is defined that the geographical mobility of the human and the population dynamics caused by this geographical mobility (Emiroğlu & Aydın, 2003). While migrations can be caused by compulsory reasons such as wars and disasters, sometimes they can occur voluntarily to improve the living conditions of individuals. In both cases, increasing number of immigrants increases the responsibility of the host country.
The factors (individuals, events, processes, etc.) that are the subject of case studies are investigated holistically and it is aimed at revealing how these factors affect the given situation and vice versa (Christensen, Johnson, & Turner, 2015).

Participants
The study group consisting of teachers who teach Syrian students has been formed by considering the states where Syrians are densely populated. According to the data of the Refugees Association (Mülteciler Derneği, 2021), Hatay is ranked as the third among the provinces with the highest number of Syrians. Although Istanbul is ranked as the first among Turkish states with the number of 519.171 Syrians, the number of people under temporary protection proportionated to the rate of the state's population is located in the bottom row. Accordingly, Hatay with the highest number of Syrians was chosen as the province where the study is carried out. To create a study group of teachers working with Syrian students in Hatay in their class, the district with the highest population of Syrian students was researched. Accordingly, the rate of Syrian students in Antakya, which hosts the highest number of Syrian students with 20,811, is 19%, while the rate of Syrian students of Reyhanlı, which has 15,490 Syrian students, is 39% (Hatay İl Milli Eğitim Müdürlüğü, 2019). Thus, by using the convenience sampling method, the study group of the research comprised of 35 teachers teaching the Syrian students in Reyhanlı district of Hatay province. The research was carried out with 28 secondary school teachers serving in seven different primary schools. The majors of teachers are primary school teaching, Turkish language, mathematics, science, social studies, English language, music, physical education, religion and moral education and Arabic language.

Data Collection
Teachers' opinions were needed within the scope of the study to determine the difficulties faced by teachers who teach Syrian students. Interview, one of the qualitative research methods, was used to collect teachers' opinions. ies.ccsenet.org International Education Studies Vol. 14, No. 12; It was aimed to probe the ways of how the teachers experience. Through interview, unobservable dimensions, such as senses, experiences, mental perceptions, and reactions can be understood. It has advantages such as high response rate, in-depth information, control over the environment, getting answers to all questions, providing the standard for the ordering of the questions (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2016).
Interviews can be carried out individually or focus group. In this study, the focus group interviews were conducted with middle school teachers while individual interviews were done with primary school teachers for the sake of differentiate and elaborate the collected data. To collect the data, the semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers was used. While the first part is about the personal information of the teachers, the second includes twenty questions Preparing the interview questions researchers tested their understandability by teachers. Then, the form was re-utilized in terms of four experts' opinion (namely, one from curriculum and instruction and three from measurement and evaluation) and a pilot interview was done with three teachers to test the questions.
Within the scope of the research, the interviews were between 26.09.2020 and 21.10.2020 through online due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The teachers were voluntarily interviewed mostly through the Zoom as well as Google Meet and WhatsApp. The interviews lasted one and a half hour on average. When the data saturation was reached during the interviews, the data collection was finalized.

Data Analysis
Data analysis in qualitative research is the process of exporting the collected data as a whole (Merriam, 2013). For analyzing the data obtained from the interviews within the scope of this research, content analysis method was used to determine the curriculum implementation problems experienced by teachers who teach Syrian students. The main purpose of the content analysis is to reach the concepts and relationships that can explain the collected data. In this context, the main purpose is to define the data and reveal the facts that may be hidden. The process in content analysis is to gather similar data within the framework of certain concepts and themes and to interpret them in a way that the reader can understand (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2016).
The data were read as a whole and in various sections by the researcher repeatedly. Through the data read, themes in respect of the main themes of objectives, content, teaching-learning and evaluation were created with the support of literature. The participants' meaningful data related to each theme were organized in Microsoft Word files separately. This method worked in seeing the whole of the teachers' opinions corresponding to each question and facilitated the writing of the research report. Similar data were collected under the same theme and different headings were formed for different data.
Upon ensuring the internal reliability of the study, coding consistency was carried out with an expert at Mardin Artuklu University. The data collected by the researcher were shared with expert and he was asked to generate codes. At the end of the study, the generated codes by the expert and researcher were found to be consistent at the rate of 91%. A coding consistency which is 90% or more in qualitative studies indicates the results of the study as reliable (Miles & Huberman, 1994).
The transferability of qualitative research results depends on the adequate description of the data. Rich and thick description is the transfer of data to the reader in a manner organized according to emerging concepts and themes, without adding comments under the original data (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2016). For this purpose, direct quotations were frequently used in the presentation of the findings. In addition, since the qualitative studies work with a small number of people, care should be taken that the collected data do not contain information about the identity of individuals (Kümbetoğlu, 2005). For this reason, while quoting the teachers' expressions, each teacher was given a code (P 1 , P 2 , …) meaning Participant 1, Participant 2, in an unidentified manner.

Findings and Results
Findings of the curriculum implementation difficulties experienced by teachers who teach Syrian students in schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) are discussed in four main dimensions of the curriculum which are difficulties related to objectives, the content of the curriculum, learning experiences, assessment and evaluation processes. Besides, the findings in the study are supported by direct quotations taken from teachers' expressions.

Difficulties Related to Objectives
According to the findings obtained from the interviews, all of the teachers have difficulties in implementing the objectives in the curriculum. Besides, it is found that none of the teachers could fully realize them in their classes. The reasons for the difficulties are that the curriculum is designed for solely Turkish students and that Syrian students cannot understand the objectives resulting from the missing pre-learning. ies.ccsenet.org International Education Studies Vol. 14, No. 12; "Of course, we have great difficulties in realizing the objectives in the curriculum. If we look at them on a class basis, our rate is very low. " (P 6 ) "Unfortunately, we are having problems as the curriculum is not designed for Syrian students, more precisely for students who do not speak Turkish. We have a language problem in particular." (P17) Considering that Turkish is a foreign language for Syrian students, English teachers state that they have great difficulties teaching a second foreign language through Turkish. It is stated that Syrian students do not know enough Turkish to understand even which column is in English when they look at the Turkish words written on the board for their English equivalents.
"Since English is also foreign language learning, teaching English through Turkish is very hard in terms of reaching the objectives." (P15) "English and Turkish are foreign languages for the child after all there is no difference between the two." (P18) Apart from the language problems of Syrian students, one of the reasons that prevent the realization of the objectives is the excessive number of objectives in the curriculum and the insufficient time given for these objectives. Considering the cultural differences of the child, it is almost impossible to reach all the objectives, especially in lessons that include Turkish history and local knowledge, such as social studies or the history of the Turkish revolution.
"Even for Turkish schools, the achievements of the revolution lesson were incredibly intense. It was very difficult for us to teach these achievements even to the students in the Turkish school. Here, we start these achievements with students who are all Syrian, but I think I cannot explain 97% of them. " (P7) "I am having problems with the implementation of the curriculum. Because the curriculum is already very intense, even for Turkish students. For Syrian students, this means doubling the hardness. " (P14) Difficulties experienced by teachers due to objectives have resulted from various reasons such as language problems, the level of readiness, cultural differences, socio-economic situation, the breadth of the objectives, and the inadequacy of the number of teaching hours.

Language Problem and Cultural Differences
Language and culture are an inseparable whole. There is a need for the development of language to the cultural field. Language is indispensable for the dissemination of cultural elements.
The language problem is seen as a common problem of all teachers. All teachers in this study highlight this problem and draw attention to the lack of language. Also, teachers who can speak Arabic state that although they know that Arabic should not be used in lessons, it is a necessity to say the Arabic equivalent of a term in the lesson or perhaps to teach the lesson in Arabic depending on the number of Syrian students. Teachers state that the problems they experience differ according to the branches. Although teachers of practice-based branches such as visual arts, music, physical education or universal branches such as mathematics and English feel advantageous in various subjects compared to other branches, they state that they experience difficulties in the implementation of the curriculum, especially due to the language problem.
"When compared to other main branches, it is gratifying that activity-based education is at the forefront in the visual arts course, but from time to time we have difficulties due to communication." (P2) "For English lessons, we are one click more fortunate than other branches, but our only problem is not being able to enter into dialogue with the students in a way that includes them. In other words, we spend time including them in the social environment first, but after giving the objectives, sometimes they can get them faster than Turkish students." (P24) Culture, which is one of the concepts that deeply affects human life, is the whole of the meanings and importance that societies have transferred from their past to the present. Living in a different culture as a result of forced migration brings some problems for immigrants. Especially immigrant children may find it difficult to learn the language, culture, traditions and lifestyles of their host country. Teachers who do not have enough information about the educational and cultural backgrounds of children make misdiagnoses of students (Soylu, Kaysılı, & Sever, 2020). The meaning that a person attributes to an event or phenomenon determines his reaction to that situation. Syrian students are particularly reactive to classes such as visual arts, music, and physical education, and the reason for this reaction is religious sensitivity.
"Let me say that Syrian students are more interested in religious sciences. I don't think they are very interested in positive sciences. They are good in science, they are excited, they learn, and so on, but even their family structures are not culturally ready for our education system, I think. They view music and painting lessons from a different perspective. One of the parents came to me not to play chess." (P25) "Cultural differences affect. Like painting lessons, they can approach lessons a little more limitedly, they are more distant. Sentences can contain phrases like sin, they do not want to do it." (P13) The fact that they have religious interests constitutes the demand for students to receive education separately from girls and boys in imam-preacher schools (Islamic schools).
"Let me tell you for the religion and moral education lesson because their religious understanding and culture are intertwined, we sometimes experience something that is in their culture as if they were in their religion." (P16) "If you are a female teacher who teaches male students, even the normal dressing of a teacher may seem different for them. Due to the culture, both female-male relationships and female teacher roles and dressing are not common for Syrian students." (P7) One of the strongest bonds uniting people in a society is the common sense of history. There are two essential elements of modern historical consciousness. The first is to grasp the differences in mentality and environment that create a gap between the previous ages and the second is to understand how the unique character of our present world has come from the past mentality and environment. Without this consciousness, people cannot easily accept demands for adherence to broad abstractions.
"For us, when the National Anthem is being sung, the attitude, the Turkish flag, Atatürk, and these are all things that are sacred to our country, and that we cherish very much. These children do not respect the National Anthem, knowingly or unknowingly, apart from that, I witnessed that the Turkish National Anthem, Atatürk and Youth Address, which stand on the board, were trampled by Syrian students. When I came across these examples, I thought we could not teach these children anything with our given objectives." (P7)

The Level of Readiness
Readiness is of great importance for a productive instruction process. Before the child starts school, he goes through many experiences, from the language he learned in his family to the game he plays with his friends. The child, who starts his education life with these experiences, adds a new one to his experiences at school. Thus, the instruction the child receives within the family before starting school, the kind of society the child comes from, directly affects the readiness of the child.
"Their past life has a negative impact. Because the mother tongue is learned in the family, developed, and continues at school. But the language our children learn in the family, and the language they learn at school are not the same, we have language problems. While having a language problem, success in any lesson is not as desired. That's why their previous experiences have a negative impact. "(P8) "Their previous learning creates some obstacles at school. For example, let me give an example for my branch. We write the numbers from left to right, but Syrian students write from right to left. For example, he writes 81 instead of 18. This creates a problem for me. Maybe the child finds the correct answer but writes it incorrectly while reading even the written paper."(P5) Syrian students placed in the camps when they first came to Turkey were getting an education in Temporary Training Centers (GEMs). These places where the language of instruction is Arabic (Tunga, Engin ve Çağıltay, 2020), were closed down after some time, and Syrian students were placed in public schools, which resulted in the problem of adaptation and teachers' feeling of inadequacy. "As soon as GEMs were closed, students were scattered directly to public schools. The situation of the students coming from GEMs was very bad. Our job is getting easier because the students who come now have education from Turkish schools, but we still cannot achieve the desired objectives. We are experiencing problems especially due to the readiness level of the students and the language problem." (P6) Each education level creates a prerequisite for the next and provides the necessary information. Considering the teachers' opinions about the readiness of Syrian students, each teacher stated that the student at the previous level should receive a good quality of education to be more comfortable or that he could not implement the curriculum. The secondary school teacher emphasizes the importance of good primary school education and the primary school teacher emphasizes the importance of good preschool education. Otherwise, a problem at any level turns into insufficiency at other levels and the student can never adapt to the Turkish education system. Considering this situation, primary school, which is the first step of the compulsory education system, is very important. However, primary school teachers also state that the literacy education they give to Turkish students is not the same as the needs of Syrian students.
"Preschool education should be compulsory before the child starts school, and children should be exposed to the Turkish language." (P15) "They want us to reach the same objective both for the Turkish and Syrian child starting the 1st grade. They expect them to learn the same thing at the same time, but there are many things they ignore. These children do not come here under the same conditions." (P30)

Socioeconomic Status
Many factors affect the education process. One of the important factors affecting education is the socioeconomic level. According to the data obtained from the interviews, it was observed that the children of the families who were at a good socioeconomic level were more successful, while the children of the families who had socioeconomic difficulties had problems in participating in the lessons due to the lack of course materials.

"Since the implementation of the objectives in our branch depends on the materials, the realization of them becomes a problem. One of the biggest reasons for this situation is the socioeconomic status of the students." (P2)
It is thought that one of the barriers to the schooling of immigrant children is economic problems. However, a few participants emphasize the importance given to education, considering that resources are not allocated to education independently from economic income.
"I do not believe that they suffered from poverty. At this point, we have cultural differences. Our people are collectors, like saving money, but they are more wasteful than us at the point of eating and drinking. Not even when it comes to education. Among Syrians, the thought of "Oh, we saved our lives, will we show interest in education?" is dominant. How important is education for them? We should also think about it." (P32)

The Extent of the Objectives and Insufficient Number of Class Hours
When teachers evaluate the objectives in the curriculum, they generally think that they are extensive for Syrian students and especially they cannot be reached for them.
"The objectives can be broken down into smaller pieces. If lower-level ones are given for Syrians, at least they can be earned. As it is really hard to earn some of them." (P25) "I think it is too much for Syrian students, even for our Turkish students." (P28) It is stated that the time is insufficient for the acquisition of the objectives, and the Turkish and the Syrian students will not be able to fulfill the same objective at the same time because many competencies, especially language, are not at the same level.
"I can say that the short course duration and the wide coverage of the objectives reveal that the curriculum is not realistic." (P13) "When we try to catch all the students in the class, we have difficulties especially regarding the duration of the objectives." (P22) ies.ccsenet.org International Education Studies Vol. 14, No. 12; 2021

Difficulties Related to Content
According to the findings obtained from the interviews, most of the teachers who teach Syrian students stated that the content in the curriculum is not suitable for Syrian students, except for the Arabic branch. The length of the texts and the heavy language cause the contents to be above the student level.
"I think the course books are not at the students' level, we need to reduce the content to the students' levels." (P4) "We have texts describing wars. This can sometimes be too long for even teachers; it is given in a heavy language." (P7) While evaluating the contents of the programs, the teachers mainly consider the textbooks. Textbooks, one of the indispensable tools of education, are one of the main pillars of the teaching process (Oruç, 2009). Textbooks are printed materials that consist of texts prepared by considering the knowledge levels and ages of the students and prepared according to the basic principles of the curriculum (Çiftçi, Çeçen, & Melanlıoğlu, 2007). In this section, the language and length of textbooks, the use of visuals, the number of activities, and cultural elements are discussed in terms of Syrian students.

The Language and Length of Textbooks
Considering that the vast majority of Syrian students are insufficient in Turkish, the texts in the content of the curriculum are also not understandable for children. It was also stated by teachers that many texts were written in a literary language were also long.
"Not knowing our mother tongue creates a serious problem to understand what is written in these books." "First text, I mean, the first text consists of four pages. Four pages!" (P33)

Visual Support
Although increasing the use of visuals or the number of visuals is not the definitive solution, it is necessary at least to attract the students' attention and to involve them in the process a little more. It is important to support the contents with visuals, as students who cannot understand the texts in the content can formulate ideas based on visuals.

Lack of the Activities
The insufficient activities in the textbooks are especially emphasized by primary school teachers. While students are learning to read and write in a language, they do not know at all, they need to exercise more than Turkish students and the books fall short in this regard.

Cultural Aspect
It is of great importance to introduce Turkish culture to Syrian students who have difficulties in education due to cultural differences. It is thought that the texts in the content of the curriculum can be a good tool for promoting culture. While the texts are inadequate in the Turkish lesson in which texts are used predominantly, they are a little bit more efficient in the Arabic course, which is the students' mother tongue.

Difficulties Related to Teaching and Learning Experiences
The teaching and learning processes, which is the part where the curriculum is implemented concretely, is the area where teachers have the most difficulties. While the problems related to the objectives and content are the problems about the efficiency students get from education, the problem in the learning and teaching processes is the teacher. With the inclusion of Syrian students in the Turkish education system, teachers working in schools affiliated with the MoNE experience various problems. The teachers' problems vary according to criteria such as the number of Syrian students in school and classrooms, whether they are in the same class with Turkish students or teaching in schools where all the students are made up of Syrian students. However, the common point is that teachers have problems under all circumstances and the teaching environment with Syrian students cannot provide the desired level of efficiency in any way.
"Last year, I taught all Syrian classes and had a hard time. Because they keep their culture alive in the classroom environment and obviously, we have difficulties because they do not interact with our culture. We cannot accommodate them, they cannot follow us, there is a conflict environment in the classroom and this makes learning even more difficult." (P14) According to the opinions obtained from the interviews, difficulties in teaching and learning processes are discussed in four categories. These categories are classroom culture and management, the effects of Syrian and Turkish students on each other, changes in the implementation of the curriculum, and Syrian volunteer educators. It should not be forgotten that; rather than seeing Syrian students as the source of the problem, it should be considered as a manifestation of victimization.

Classroom Culture and Management
Class culture, which consists of the interaction of students in the classroom with each other, affects the course of the teaching environment and the way of managing that classroom. When examining the class culture where Syrian students presented, it is seen that they come from a more repressive environment. Being included in a more comfortable learning environment, it is easily noticeable that there are difficulties in complying with the rules. In addition to the discipline problems of Syrian students, the problems of speaking among themselves, hygiene, and the feeling of belonging were mentioned during the lesson.
"The inability of students who do not speak their mother tongue to get along with their friends and to establish a social environment makes it difficult to adapt to the classroom. Especially if it is in the first grade, it can be traumatic for the child when it comes to adaptation to school." (P29) "I think that children who have grown up with Syrian culture should not study together in the same class because they have a lot of talking. In classes where the majority or all of them are Syrian, students keep their own culture alive in the classroom, they talk a lot." (P4) It is stated that classes with a high concentration of Syrian students are more difficult to clean than other classes. Most of the children do not pay attention to their cleanliness, nor do they make an effort to keep the classroom clean.
"One of us does not easily drink water from the others' water bottles, but there is absolutely no such situation in these children. I don't think they attach much importance to cleanliness culturally." (P7) "Unfortunately, the students do not want to take a bath. We have serious problems with hygiene. There is an intense smell in the classrooms. When teachers enter the classroom, they spend fifteen minutes, sometimes even half of a lesson, tidying and cleaning the classroom." (P10) Not being able to integrate with Turkish students, and not understanding what is being talked about in the lessons make them feel foreign and they do not feel that they belong to the lessons, the class, or the school. A student who does not feel belonging to the class does not want to take responsibility in the classroom and this situation negatively affects the teacher in the course of the teaching.
"When Syrian students enter the classroom, for example, they are always close, sitting back to back with

The Effect of Syrian and Turkish Students on Each Other
One of the issues that have been discussed since the day Syrian students were at schools affiliated with MoNE is how Syrian and Turkish students will affect each other. From the point of view of Syrian students, being together with Turkish students is important in terms of inclusion and social integration. However, from the viewpoint of Turkish students, it is argued that the level of lessons decreases in classes with a high population of Syrian students, or Syrian students are ignored when lessons are taught according to Turkish students and that they should be educated in separate classes or schools. According to the interviews with the teachers, 57% of them stated that they support the coeducation of the students, while 43% stated that they should receive education in separate environments. On the other hand, teachers thought that separating the students or keeping them in the same environment constantly, there could be a third way and stated that the students should only come together in various activities. Most of the teachers who support blended classes are teachers working in the school which consists of Syrian students. When all of the students are Syrians, the children continue to experience their own culture at school and do not attempt to integrate into the Turkish education system. This is very difficult for the teacher in the teaching process. The student does not even need to learn Turkish because he is constantly in contact with his Syrian friends rather than trying to understand what is being told in the lessons. Teachers who support blended classes think that Syrian students will learn Turkish faster when they interact with Turkish students and that they will adapt to school and society faster with peer support in mixed environments. Teachers working in the school, which is full of Syrian students, think that coeducation will be better due to the problems they experience, and teachers working in coeducation schools believe that Syrian students should be educated in separate classes or schools because of their problems. Since Syrian students are not ready to receive the same education as Turkish students due to the reasons mentioned in the main theme of the objectives, including their language deficiencies, they are evaluated as mainstreamed students and they need a separate curriculum or plan.

"When I ask a question to a Syrian student and include them in any activity, there is a serious waste of time, and the child also loses self-confidence when he cannot do it." (P12)
"Why are these children in this school and why do these children get training in the same classes as Turkish students in this curriculum? How will this contribute to their future, their country when we think that they will return tomorrow. What contribution will the history I tell him to make? What contribution will the proverbs I tell him?" (P18) Because methods such as full-time mainstreaming or complete segregation have various problems, a few teachers think that students need to be together in limited times.
"It does not seem right to say that they should be completely separated or they are in the same environment." (P13) "The best thing to do is to separate classes in academic classes, while children should be mixed in more active lessons such as music, painting, physical education." (P12)

Changes in the Implementation of the Curriculum
Teachers have difficulties in implementing the curriculum due to the difficulties in the dimension of objectives, and most of the time they cannot implement the curriculum. When asked what kind of changes has been made about the curriculum that is not implemented, the teachers generally respond that they try to explain the content in a simpler way, or they pass by. Apart from the answers such as simplifying the content or merely passing by, making additional course hours for the need of the students and teaching only the Turkish language in the lesson are among the methods preferred by teachers. In one research (Demir Başaran, 2020), pointed those teachers design the process by making changes in the objectives of the curriculum, so that they better meet the needs of the students.

"Even if they cannot do it in the exams, I sometimes can spread the content a little more so that they will not pass without learning. We do not fit well with the annual plans; I am saying it in terms of my school. But if I were at a school with a small number of Syrians, I would implement the normal curriculum. I wouldn't behave much for them." (P25)
When enough time and effort are given, teachers who think that Syrian students can also get training with the curriculum in the Turkish education system do reading and writing activities to support students' language development. For students to be less affected by language deficiencies, focusing on activities in lessons is also seen as an alternative solution.
"For Syrian students, I always come from behind, this is tiring for me. What am I doing? I do extra studies that will speed up their reading especially for students who are unable to read." (P34) "I focus on activities. Doing the activities removes the language problem to some extent. It is very enjoyable, children also like that kind of work." (P28) Although it depends on the number of Syrian students, if most of the class has difficulty in understanding the content, the subjects are taught at an appropriate level. In classes where the majority of the students or all of them are Syrian, the content is handled in a superficial, simple, and basic form.
"In classrooms where the number of Syrian students is low, the program is taught one-to-one, but where there are many, I pass by giving the crucial points of the subjects in a simplified and refined way." (P11) "We are working in a very artificial way, for example, we can talk about the organs in the system and pass on the systems. We cannot go into details such as the duties of the organs in that system." (P27) Teachers think that any lesson taught to students with Turkish insufficiency will not achieve its purpose. Teachers who cannot fulfill the objectives in the lessons can choose only the way of teaching the Turkish language in the lessons, thinking that if the children learn the language at least, they may have a chance in education in the following years.

Syrian Volunteer Educators
Syrian volunteer educators appointed by UNICEF started to be transferred to public schools with the closure of TECs. For Syrian educators, whose presence in schools is a subject of great debate, 97% of the teachers who participated in the interviews stated that they were in their schools, while 3% stated that they did not. Although Syrian educators in schools are seen as effective in matters such as parent communication, discipline problems, homework follow-up, they are criticized for negatively affecting children's integration and language development and creating duality within the school.

"I think they are useful in disciplinary and communication problems, also communication with the family. However, a limit should be drawn to the duties of Syrian educators in the school, and they should not be involved in teachers' classroom practices." (P2)
Syrian volunteer educators are particularly useful in communicating with students and parents who do not speak Turkish unless they interfere with in-class practices. It is seen as an interpreter rather than an educator.

"I think they have a great contribution in terms of translation and communication." (P7) "I usually get support from them in terms of parent communication and getting information about the student." (P1) "They exist as a kind of translator, not as an educator." (P33)
Because Syrian students can talk Arabic with Syrian educators, they don't need to speak Turkish and they have difficulty in adapting to school together with insufficient language development. Instead of speaking Arabic with students, Syrian educators are expected to contribute to the students learning Turkish as native speakers. However, most of the trainers themselves can't speak Turkish.
"I wish those who know Turkish would be taken as educators in this way they would also support us in teaching Turkish. I've always been looking for such a specialty in them." (P8) ""The students that we insist on teaching Turkish and speaking Turkish will use those teachers as translators. Yes, when you look at it, maybe it will speed up the flow, maybe our communication with the parents will be easier, maybe the attitude of the children will change in the classroom, maybe they will warn them in the language they can understand, but I think that your self-interruption and efforts for integration so many years will be in vain." (P22) A teacher who speaks Turkish and has a different culture versus a teacher who speaks the same language with whom they can express their problems compared and children can establish a supremacy relationship in their mind. The Turkish teacher, who seeks support from Syrian volunteer educators due to the language problem, and who has problems with discipline, may remain in the eyes of the child as a staff member working under the Syrian educator. Especially, with the involvement of Syrian educators in the practices of the classroom, confusion in terms of authority and domination lead to differences in practices.
"Students thinks Syrian educators as the principal of actual teacher and when they see the educator, they tidy up themselves, but Turkish teacher cannot get such kind of respect." (P3) "A negative picture emerges. For example, the student is telling his problem not to me but to that teacher. And the worst part is that these people only deal with Syrian students. Students are automatically divided into two; the one going to the Turkish teacher and the one going to the Syrian teacher. Besides, these Syrian teachers are under religious pressure. They explain that male teachers should be avoided." (P12) Syrian educators, who generally play a role in communication and discipline problems, operate in the schools in a non-communicative way from teachers. This situation causes most teachers in schools to even not realize their existence.

Difficulties Related to Assessment and Evaluation Processes
Syrian students who cannot adapt to the Turkish education system due to many reasons, especially language, also experience problems in the assessment and evaluation processes. With the increase in the number of Syrian students in classrooms, the process of preparing assessment and evaluation tools is affected firstly. Besides, Syrian students' self-expression skills are another factor affecting assessment and evaluation.
"If we hit the ratio, we cannot evaluate it as 70%. Very high rate. Seven out of ten students or eight out of every ten have difficulty in evaluation." (P17) According to the opinions obtained, difficulties arising from the measurement and evaluation processes are determined as the preparation of measurement tools, the inability of students to express themselves, the control of objectives that do not turn into skills, learning deficiencies, and feedback.

Preparation of Measurement Tools
Teachers mostly complain that they cannot use open-ended questions. Stating that they mostly take multiple-choice or gap-filling exams to prevent students' language problems, the teachers emphasized that students cannot write answer when they ask open-ended questions.

"I usually do my exams as tests, gap-filling, right or wrong. I don't usually use open-ended questions. If I have to use it, I am careful to ask questions whose answers will be a single word or a single sentence." (P1) "You definitely can't ask open-ended questions. When you ask such a kind of question, it is very difficult for the child to read, think and write it down. So, the child gets low marks." (P11)
The words used in the preparation of the exams and the explanation of the questions should be simpler and more elaborate than the exam prepared for Turkish students. Methods such as not using distractors and getting support from images are used in exams.

Students' Inability to Express Themselves
Knowing a language is a skill that is handled in four areas as listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Despite accepting that Syrian students have learned the language up to a point in terms of speaking, they still experience many difficulties in writing. The fact that Arabic is a language written from right to left is another issue that hinders students' learning writing in Turkish. A student who cannot understand what he read and cannot write what he thinks, even if he learns the information in the lesson, cannot express himself at the time of the exam forces teachers in terms of evaluation. Because teachers should provide environments where students can easily express their thoughts, they should give feedback, collect data, and guide them (Sevgi & Karakaya, 2020).

The Control of the Objectives That Do Not Turn into Skills
It is an important issue for Syrian students that the reason behind the failure of a student and not being able to exhibit the skill is whether the language inadequacy or the inability to learn the knowledge. Even if Syrian students have learned the knowledge, they may get low marks in the exam due to language deficiency. Teachers provide facilities such as helping students with Arabic-speaking students or allowing them to write in Arabic to prevent students from getting low grades.
"You guess from the student's previous performances whether he will solve the problem or not. I check if that kind of student understood the question during the exam. I offer help in this sense. To do that, I get support from a student who also knows Arabic." (P34) "There are children that I allow to write in Arabic, I let them do that and I don't want them to get low grades. Because I know that kid is successful and I am aware that getting a bad grade will upset him, he will be very introverted." (P16) It is not always possible in crowded classes to check whether a student cannot solve a question because he does not know it or cannot do it due to the lack of language. However, if a student is found to be unable to do so due to the lack of language despite having the answer, adding extra points to the exam scores is also among the methods applied.
"After I finish the exam, I invite the students who fail next to me. When I ask questions in a language that they can understand, at a level that they can remember, the child answers. When I come across these children who cannot succeed because of the language, I make some small changes in their exam grades. If the child knows and could not answer due to language problems and if I understand this, I make the change." (P25) "This is one of our biggest problems here. You are not sure whether the student knows or not. You can't measure it." (P27)

Learning Deficiencies and Feedback
Teachers mostly use the question and answer method to notice the learning deficiencies that occur at the end of the training process. The learning deficiencies noticed with the question-answer method are being completed by repeating the previous content at the beginning of the lesson.
"I give feedback to students using the question and answer method." (P1) "What I do the most is the question-and-answer technique. I do it in every lesson. I do it at the beginning at the end of the lesson." (P27) In addition to the question and answer method, the control of written papers and homework is also used to identify learning deficiencies.
"Especially after the exam, we answer the questions on the exam papers one by one. Or when I give them homework, we answer it together." (P8) "Written papers, assignments, questions, and answers… But no matter how much feedback we give, feedback always feels like new information for students. That is also something resulted from the language." (P7) Benefiting from peer teaching is a widely used method to overcome the learning difficulties of Syrian students. Peer teaching is very important for the peer group to not only use the words they have learned in the lesson and increase their communication with each other, but also feel good and improve their feelings of happiness (Türkmenoğlu, 2016).
"I try to benefit from peer teaching by sitting Turkish students and Syrian students together on desks." "Thanks to peer teaching, I make sure that students who know the content help friends who do not know it." (P3) It is also thought that it is not possible to identify learning deficiencies and provide feedback due to the crowded classes and the heavy content.

Discussion and Conclusion
Before expressing the results, the thematic structure of this research can be summarized as follows. As seen from the figure, the themes are dived into four main categories. The language problems of Syrian students were the basic reason for not adapting to the Turkish education system and not reaching the objectives in the curriculum. Similar to this result, in the studies conducted by others is the main problem of Syrian students was found to be language problems by (Başar, Akan, & Çiftçi, 2018;Erdem, 2017;Levent & Çayak, 2017). Tekin emphasized that learning and teaching activities cannot be considered separate from communication depending on language skills and it is not possible to be successful in lessons with weak language skills (Tekin, 2007). In their study carried out with the students from Sudan through conducting interviews, they reported that the behavioral problems such as anxiety resulted from the difficulties they faced in understanding the language. In addition, the problems with understanding the language were demonstrated to negatively affect the use of materials and cultural adaptation. In the same vein in another research, reported understanding the language as the primary prerequisite for meeting the educational needs of Syrian students in their research aiming to support the curriculum development studies via uncovering primary school teachers' perceptions (Dolapçioglu & Bolat, 2019).
Because the Syrian and Turkish students' needs were different, primary education didn't achieve its purpose. In his study, (Dağlı, 2020) defines this situation as a disadvantage for Syrian children who communicate with their families in Arabic and try to learn how to read and write in Turkish compared to students whose mother tongue is Turkish. Content that is missed at primary school affects readiness at the secondary school level. Consequently, Syrian students are not at the desired level of preparedness at any level of education provided in schools.
Some of the difficulties experienced by the teachers participating in the study arise from cultural differences. In their research, Kardeş and Akman (2018) reveal that, with language acquisition problems in mind, Syrian children face cultural adaptation problems due to cultural differences. The intense religious perspective seen in Syrians reduces the interest in arts, sports classes and positive sciences and causes children to shut themselves off from the lesson. Besides, with the early marriage of most girls, their education is interrupted. Hayward claims that the cultural adaptation problems confronted by refugees result from psychological traumas. According to them, several other problems originating from not understanding the language might arise among refugees who have severe problems with human rights, respect, security and status (Hayward, 2017).
One of the points that create difficulties for Syrian students who try to get training under the same conditions as Turkish students despite various disadvantages and for teachers who try to carry out the education process is the excess of the objectives and the insufficient number of teaching hours. There are many objectives in our curricula, but the time allocated for them is not enough, especially for Syrian students. Caymazoğlu stated in his study that weekly course hours should be arranged appropriately for the objectives to be fully received by Syrian students (Caymazoğlu, 2019). Also, (Biçer & Kılıç, 2017) stated in their study that the duration of the lessons is not sufficient, and that additional time is needed to do the activities.
Teachers took textbooks as a reference while evaluating the content. When considered in terms of Syrian students, the coursebook texts are long and written in comprehensive language. Otherwise, stated in these studies (Gün, Akkaya, & Kara, 2014;Biçer & Kılıç, 2017) that the textbooks should be on the student level. According to Özdemir, the content suitable for the language levels of the students will allow the formation of the desired  (Özdemir, 2013).
Classroom culture and management are negatively affected in classrooms where the number of Syrian students has increased. The tendency of Syrian students is not to comply with classroom and school rules triggers disciplinary problems. Besides, most of the lessons with Syrian students who do not pay attention to personal hygiene and keeping their environment clean spent with cleaning the classroom. Additionally, the tendency for speaking added to the feeling of getting bored with the lessons due to language problems, and constant conversation in Arabic causes troubles in the classroom environment. It is concluded that, in general, Syrian students do not feel belonging to the classroom and especially to the Turkish education system. Similar to this result, (Çelik, 2018;Dağlı, 2020;Uyduran, 2020;Yılmaz, 2020) referred that together with experiencing adaptation problems, most of them cannot follow the school and classroom rules, they have difficulty in understanding the content covered in the lessons, exhibit undisciplined behaviors, act in a way that disturbs the order of the lesson in the classroom, and experience difficulties in dressing and cleaning.
Various practices are observed in the integration of Syrian students into the education system. Currently, there are four types of class and school structures. There are classrooms and schools, firstly all of which are made up of Turkish students, secondly where Turkish students are mainly populated, thirdly where Syrian students are mostly populated, and finally all of which are made up of Syrian students. Although each application has its difficulties, the most difficult situation for teachers is that they are not able to define the class level in the mixed education system. While Syrian students were ignored in classes with a high concentration of Turkish students (Erdem, 2017), Turkish students were ignored in classes with a high population of Syrian students. Inclusive education wasn't serving its purpose; what is more, keeping Turkish students and Syrian students in separate environments also poses serious problems in terms of integration. In classrooms and schools where students are composed of entirely Syrians, students continue to keep the Arabian culture alive, and classes cannot be taught due to the language problem. As a result of the interviews, teachers working in integrated classrooms argue that there should be separated schools and teachers working in separated schools argue that there should be integrated classrooms. Nobody is satisfied with the educational conditions they have with Syrian students.
Preparation of the assessment tool for classes with Syrian students requires extra care. The words used in the writing of the questions should be appropriate to the level of understanding of Syrian students and negative question roots should not be used. Besides, teachers' not using metacognitive assessment tools like open-ended questions and not using distractors in multiple-choice exams limit them in terms of diversity and in-depth measurement. Dağlı, stated in his study that Syrian students are generally unable to ask questions and collect data on any subject, they cannot answer the written questions, their language skills are insufficient, and that these given objectives require high-level cognitive skills (Dağlı, 2020).
In the assessment and evaluation process, the students' ability to express themselves is as important as the information itself. In another study, it is stated that the communication problems of Syrian students hindered the process and prevented the students from expressing themselves (Aslan, 2019). As stated by another research, the students' inability to transfer any information they understand in class due to the lack of language skills caused the failure (Güngör & Şenel, 2018). According to the information obtained from teachers, most Syrian students had difficulties expressing themselves. According to another study, the hardness in self-expression arose from inverse (right to left), incomplete and incorrect writing, and mistakes in reading and pronunciation (Koçoğlu & Yanpar Yelken, 2018).
In this study, the difficulties experienced by teachers who teach Syrian students are defined according to the four dimensions of the curriculum. In general, teachers stated that they had difficulty in all parts of the curriculum that are objectives, content, learning-teaching process and evaluation. They stated that the objectives in the teaching process with Syrian students were not achieved, the content was not suitable, there were advantages as well as disadvantages of Syrian students in the learning-teaching process, and it would be unnecessary to measure unattainable objectives, and the measurement was made simple enough not to serve the evaluation process in the curriculum. Considering all these ideas, they concluded that the curriculum prepared for the Turkish education system was not suitable for Syrian students and that there was a need for separate programs for them. This opinion that the existing curriculum is not suitable for Syrian students is similar to the results of studies (Anras, 2019;Hamidi, 2015;Karadaş, 2017;Uygun, 2020).
This study looks at the process from the perspective of the curriculum. In terms of curriculum dimensions, it is seen that teachers focus on what Syrian students cannot or do not do. It should be noted that most of these students may not have encountered a qualified education process own country. In other words, students are the part of the problem, not the source. For this reason, it is necessary to develop curriculum on this basic reason. ies.ccsenet.org International Education Studies Vol. 14, No. 12; According to the data obtained from the research to reduce the problems stem from Syrian students as school administrators and teachers, first of all, classrooms where Syrian students receive an education can be organized. The number of Syrian students in the classroom should not exceed the number of Turkish students. In order not to hinder each other's academic development and success in central exams, Turkish and Syrian students may come together in skill-based courses while studying in different classes in academic courses. Besides, teachers may consider process-based evaluations in assessment and evaluation by teaching the educational game and activity-based lessons to involve Syrian students more during the lesson.
Under this study, it can be suggested for later researchers to investigate whether the experiences of teachers who teach Syrian students differ significantly regarding several variables by using the quantitative research method of this study, conducted with qualitative research method. The experiences of teachers working in provinces where the number of Syrian students is low may be compared with the results of this study. Finally, it can be investigated whether there is a significant difference between the Syrian students who transferred from TECs to public schools and the Syrian students born in Turkey in terms of difficulties experienced in education.