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The place religion should occupy in social life and how religious education should be conducted has so far been one of the controversial issues in Turkey. Considering the history of the Republican era, it may be said that religious education actively exists in the configuration of official education except for some periods. Religious education was not included in the earlier years of the Republic in the hegemony construction process of the state; yet, increasing internal contradictions as well as developments occurring in the international arena caused religious education to enter into the agenda through time. Religion and religious education fulfilled important functions in activating the grassroots in the struggle between dominant classes for hegemony. Religious education schools (imam hatip schools [IHSs]), which are the basic institutions offering religious education, have taken shape in parallel to the struggle for power, and they have developed in accordance with the attitudes of political powers. IHSs, which have been continuously growing except for short-term periods, are assigned the mission of raising a new generation today and special efforts are made to qualify those schools. This study evaluates the IHSs in terms of the roles they play in hegemony construction and considers the historical development and transformation of IHSs on this basis. First, the relationships between hegemony, state, and education are considered and then their historical development is evaluated and their roles in hegemony construction are analysed.

This study examines the role of critical professional learning in leading socially just schools. The study investigated the experiences of teachers who are the members of Egitim-Sen, an active teacher union in Turkey. The article first focuses on the relationship between professional development and teacher unions followed by the definition of the roles of teachers as social justice leaders in constructing socially just schools. Then, it presents findings from a qualitative study of 12 Egitim-Sen member teachers with different experiences. The data were analysed using the phenomenological research design and presented under the themes of 'critical professional learning experiences', 'injustice in schools', and 'union member teachers as social justice leaders'. The findings indicate that the union member teachers take part in union training in various forms and that these experiences contribute to raising teachers' awareness of injustices in their schools with their critical professional learning experiences. Union member teachers play active roles in constructing socially just schools both individually and as organised union members.

Education "reforms"' have been accelerated in the last decade in Turkey. Teachers, as the main actors of the education system, have developed a variety of responses to the reforms implemented in the field of education, both individually and collectively. They give directions to the change process in education by means of their trade unions. The unions have played important roles in the generation and implementation of educational policies with the strategies that they have developed. This article aims to analyse current developments in school education in Turkey and teacher trade union responses against the "reforms". For this aim, firstly, the general structure of the education system in Turkey will be identified followed by an analysis of the neoliberal policies that are a feature of the Turkish system. Finally, teacher trade unions' attitudes, compliance and resistance towards the "education reforms" will be addressed in the context of the local dynamics of Turkey.