# Introduction istance learning was described by Moore and Kearsley (1996) as an education form in which planned learning requires specific communication forms through special course design techniques, special teaching methods, electronics and other technologies as well as being organizational and administrational arrangements, which take place in a an environment that is different from the place where the education provided. On the other hand, Demiray (1999) described distance learning as an education system that provides opportunities to people who cannot have the education opportunity in mainstream schools and the ones who lost this opportunity because of various reasons such as age, disease, distance, family issues, time and financial difficulties by using printed, audiovisual (guidance and academic counseling) and electronic materials. Generally, when the descriptions of distance learning were examined, five characteristics of distance learning came out (Keegan, 1996): a) during the learning process, teacher and students are in different places. b) The influence of education institution in providing student support facilities, planning and preparing learning materials. c) The use of technical environments like printed materials, audio, video and computer to deliver/transfer the course content and provide interaction between the teacher and the learners. d) Enabling the students to start the dialogue and make use of it by providing two-way communication. e) Since there is not a learner group during the learning process, students carry on education individually. Distance learning has emerged depending on the reasons below. (a)The cases in which remoteness could be an obstacle for having education, for example, people who live in rural areas and geographically remote residential areas lack sufficient number of teachers and resources. (b) Educational requirements of people who are home-bound because of physical disabilities and diseases and (c) educational needs of young people who cannot have the opportunity to continue formal education and adults who want to improve themselves (Newby, Lehman and Russell, 2006). Because they wanted to benefit from the opportunities of distance learning, National Education Ministry intended to solve the resource problem by educating a great number of people who could not have the opportunity of university education. Education started with the establishment of open high school in 1992 and continued with the establishment of open 2009). OES initiated following the enactment of Ministry of National Education law numbered 1651 on 15.09.1997. It aimed to give the opportunity to young people who are over 14, primary school graduates, the ones who drop out of elementary school, the ones who want to complete their education and get a diploma and lastly people who want to get their education abroad accredited in their home country (Birinci, 2010). OES has been serving to its students at home (81 cities) and abroad (Western Europe, Mecca, Medina and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, Tripoli in Libya) by using distance learning methods since 1998-1999 education years. With the enactment of new Elementary Education law by 11.05.2012, the name of "Open Primary School" was changed to "Open Elementary School" on condition that their functions would stay the same. OES aims to give the education opportunity to people who could not complete their primary education for various reasons and are over the age limit of compulsory education through the principles and the techniques of distance learning anywhere on every condition with the purpose of increasing the society's level of culture and education. It also aims to pave the way for the citizens to acquire a profession, make them contribute to economic growth and prepare them for higher education (Özgür, 2005). Education system of OES has the same syllabus, which is conducted in formal education schools but it has been introduced to the students through the techniques and methods of distance learning. In OES, an education year is formed with three terms and at the end of each term, a "final exam" is given. All courses' final exam scores determine year-end achievement score. If the score is 45 and over, it shows that the course has been achieved. A student who has already started sixth grade sits exams at least in three terms and if the student fulfill the criteria of passing the course and the class in these three terms (the length of three terms is at least one year), he/she can graduate from OES. The Ministry of Education introduced the following conditions to determine who can enroll in OES: Accordingly, among the people who are over age limit of compulsory education; dies that used open education practices as their research method. They reported in their studies that the subjects are generally educational environments like system operation-practices, learning environments-materials (printed materials, radio, television, video, internet, computer-based education, teleconference and face-toface educational and counseling facilities/services), the profile, attitude and behaviors of student-graduate, offices, centers as support services and communication like historical and theoretical researches in the field. Open Education Faculty and Open High School are the open education practices that were mentioned in their research on the practice of Open Primary School, which was still new was found in the body of literature. Hence/Therefore, we can mention a deficit on the practices of OES. Askon, Johnston, Petty and Young stated that there is limited number of studies on distance learning of adult education in their study that -Kurt, 2008; Yenilmez, 2008; Düzgün, 2010) have been conducted on OES although they are in limited number. One of these studies was done with the aim of developing a face-to-face education model for OES (Bal, 2001). According to this study, it will be beneficial to add a face-to-face education format to the practice of -Kurt (2008), the views of adults enrolled in OES on the system were examined. According to the results of this study, two of the main problems that adults face are lack of printed materials and communication. Ozen (2002) and Yenilmez (2008) studies are more micro studies about the subject fields which existed in OES system. Ozen examined the subject "Turkish" and Yenilmez studied the subject "Mathematics". In the general sense, basic education is the foundation of life-long learning and human development. Individuals who have gone through an efficient basic education process can volunteer to learn about the requirements/needs in the other areas of their lives. Therefore, continuous learning opportunities need to be provided to the people who lacked of educational opportunities as well as the people who benefited from formal education. It is particularly significant to enable the individuals who are described as disadvantaged people like (unqualified young people, older people, the unemployed, the disabled ?etc) to access to the learning/education. OES, which was established in accordance with the reasons mentioned above, provide a significant opportunity to the adults who could not have the opportunity to benefit from formal education. In other words, OES aims to give the education opportunity to people who could not complete their primary education for various reasons and are over the age limit of compulsory education through the principles and the techniques of distance learning anywhere on every condition with the purpose of increasing the society's level of culture and education. It also aims to pave the way for the citizens to acquire a profession, make them contribute to economic growth and prepare them for higher education. 1. To sum up, OES is a significant effort to improve the work force potential of the country by providing minimum education opportunities offered by this century to the individuals who could not find and lacked the opportunity for formal education. Likewise, the number of people who have the possibility of benefiting from this facility/service is quite high because of the schooling problems, which has been experienced throughout this century. (According to the data from TSI (Turkish Statistics Institute), about 25 million people could not complete their primary education). In this context, developing OES practice has a great importance. Because of all these reasons, in this study, it was intended to determine socio-demographic attributes of the students continuing to OES, their reasons of enrolling in OES and their views on OES practices and services. It was also aimed to contribute to enhancing the quality and functionality of future OES practices. # II. # Methodology This study is in screening model in which enrollment reasons of continuing students in OES and the problems faced regarding open elementary education were examined. # a) Partipicants Study group is formed with 207 people who are still registered to OES and participated in the exams in Ankara during the education years of 2010-2011. The data was collected from 207 participants who sit exams in the exam centers in Çankaya District and volunteered for the study. Nearly 155 (74.9 %) of the participants were females; 52 (25.1 %) of them were male participants. The age range of participants was given in Table 2. When the Table 2 is examined, it can be seen that nearly half of the participants are between the age ranges of 26--40. It is also seen that the range of marital status of the participants is in parallel with their %) are in sevent eighth grade. # b) Collection of Data In the study, a data collection tool consisting 20 questions was formed by the researchers with the purpose of collecting the information because they wanted to identify personal characteristics of the people enrolled in OES, their reasons of enrollment and the problems they face. In the tool, questions in Likert-scale format regarding OES practices and different question formats like those that open ended questions were used in order to introduce the problems that people face. In the spring term of education years 2010-2011, the data was collected through face-to-face interviews with the students in various exam centers in Çankaya District of Ankara. # III. # Findings In the study, primarily personal information of the participants was examined. The information about the participants' employment status, the use of internet and computer were studied descriptively. Nearly 115 (55.6 %) participants work while continuing their education but 92 of them (44.4 %) do not have any jobs. When it is considered that 90 % of the participants are over 25 years old, it can be said that working life is not an obstacle for the enrollment in OES. In respect of their places of residence, participants usually come from the city center and nearby towns/districts. Nearly 121 (58.5 %) participants out of 207 students reside in the city and the study was conducted in Ankara city, the fact that the large majority of the participants reside in the city center and nearby districts is significant. Whether participants have a computer or they use computer in any environment were examined and the findings obtained were giv : The state of having a computer and using a Within the frame of the group studied, it was searched that whether the people enrolled in OES had had started primary school; 26 (12.56 %) participants had never started school. The reasons why 26 people had not started school were given in Table 5. When the Table 5 was examined, it was seen that the participants could not take permission from their families, had to work or they did not want to as the reasons of why they did not have a formal education. education quit after a while were studied and the findings were given in Table 6. When Table 6 was examined, it can be seen that the most obvious reasons for leaving formal education were the necessity of working and family permission. It was understood that these reasons emerge from this specific culture when we consider geographical, economic and sociological structure of % of the participants left school arbitrarily/on their own will. The reasons for enrollment in OES were examined and the findings were given in Table 7. It was seen that the highest rate among the reasons for enrollment in OES belonged to the item "To group stated that they enrolled in OES to be able to continue their education (Table 7). Despite being low, 1.9 % of them enrolled in OES because they thought they were not accepted by their own children. Whether the participants collected OES books students out of 207 participants had their books but 24 (11.6 %) of them did not collect them. The reasons why they did not take the books were given in Table 8. After OES, whether participants want to continue high participants stated that they wanted to continue to high not want to continue open education. Whether participants see a difference between formal education and open elementary education was them said that they could not see a difference. 8 participants did not state any opinions on this subject. The range of the reasons of the differences that 172 participants claimed was given in Table 9. The views of the participants on OES services/facilities were taken and it was seen that they found these services adequate (Table 10). Nearly 50 % of the participants who gave their opinions on the relevancy of books with the context/content found the book-% of those who gave their opinions on audio books and video courses, which can be accessed via internet, found the services adequate. Nearly 70 % of those who gave their opinions on the registration and the courses on the web page found given services adequate. Nearly 50 % of those who shared their opinions found academic counseling service in registration offices adequate. Face-to-face education practices were usually found inadequate (48.49 %). The problems/issues faced/experienced by those continuing to OES were examined and the findings were given in Table 11. When Table 11 was examined, it can be seen that participants mostly faced problems about the registration office. they had experienced problems about the registration office. It was seen that 51 (24.6 %) participants had problems about the books. The reasons of the problems faced come with little rate differences in the order of difficulty of the exams, not having a parallel education with the formal education, distance of the schools, inadequate information services, content of the books not covering exam questions, not having a study environment and exam security. IV. # Discussion, Conclusion and Suggestions Especially, since the internet and multi-media technologies started to be used in education curriculum/programs, more effective end extensive usage of distance education can be mentioned. Distance education program is a system that delivers learning by making connection between student and educational resources. The fact that distance education programs provide education opportunity to anybody who is not registered in any formal education institution proves that educational opportunities for students are increasing recently. Students make use of available resources effectively and have to follow developing technology closely through/by means of distance education programs. Within the scope of this study, students' reasons for enrollment in OES, which is a part of distance education program and some common problems that students faced were described. Within the scope of the study, it was observed that a great majority of the participants examined were female. When we consider that girls are deprived of education by families as an extension of old male-dominated structure in Turkish culture, we can say that mostly girls are still deprived of basic education rights in every segment of the society. If you take into consideration the campaigns and projects that are conducted to enable girls to continue their basic education now, it is certain that they need education more in their adult lives. Yet it was seen that a great majority of people enrolled in OES are married. This finding shows in a sense that marriage cannot be an obstacle against education or it shows that the need for education cannot be denied even for the individuals who settled down. Another remarkable conclusion in the study is that nearly 90 % of the people continuing OES was over 25 years old. Although a great majority was over 25 years old, slightly higher than the half of the participants work while continuing their education. Despite the rapid improvement in technology, there are problems about having a computer, using a computer and internet access. Within the limits of the study, when we consider that data was collected only in the capital Ankara, it is obvious that the situation could be far worse in other cities in Anatolia. Within the scope of the study, a great majority of the students enrolled in OES started formal education but they did not continue. As the reasons for dropping school, mainly not getting family's permission, the necessity of working and arbitrariness were given. When three reasons that cover 86 % of reasons for dropping were examined, it seen that some serious problems on basic education have been experienced until the very recent time. Interrupting formal education due to the necessity of working and lack of family permission needed to be dealt with and discussed not only in terms of education but also in terms of economic and political aspects. Interrupting formal education or never starting evidently emerge as a lack of basic education in the future and create problems both in their work lives and in family lives. It can be seen clearly that individuals who have not completed their basic education experience difficulties both in services like childcare, communication with their children, salary/wages, driving license and situations like seniority. Therefore, they try to make use of open education alternatives when needed. The fact that almost all participants want to continue to high school supports this finding/data. Despite high demand, the study has shown that most of the participants ( think that there is difference between formal education and OES. As a reason for the difference, they claimed that OES is more inadequate and easier than formal education. This conclusion can be interpreted that OES is not fully understood by people and generally there are prejudgments/prejudice about growing open education programs in Turkey. Having been used to traditional form of education and practice difference in open education can cause various mistaken judgments on different forms of the education. However, participants mostly have difficulties in registration offices and books. On one hand, these findings reveal the views of the participants on OES and the difficulties they had experienced, on the other hand, they will light the way for the researches that will enhance and improve open education program. In a century when the statements of information society and information literacy have gained such importance, it is seen that there is an urgent need to describe the attempts to solve basic education problems of adults in our country and to define necessary substructure facilities for open education system. When we look over the views on open education practices in Table 10, it is seen that more enriched learning environments need to be shared with these students. Enrolled students can be monitored through a learning management system. Courses, ebooks and counseling services can be given through this system. More visual environments relevant to courses can be shared with students by means of specific features of e-learning. When suitable conditions and facilities are provided, we can anticipate that students will be able to use advanced skills and there will be rapid advancements in educating them. Therefore, we need data to determine and generalize the existing state. It is only possible to determine adults' need for basic education, to specify operating problems of the system and to make suggestions in the light of the conclusions that this kind of studies can provide. # Demiray (1999). Faculty of Open Education Graduates' Relations with Working Life. Eskisehir. [online: http://www.tojet.net/e-book /AOF_ Mezunlari_Calisma_Yasami_iliskileri.pdf, Date: 10.07.2010] 6. -12-7. . PegemA ![a) People who documented that they have completed fifth Grade; b) Adults who have second stage achievement certificate, c) Adults who have complementary basic education-B course certificate; d) People who left from sixth, seventh and eighth grades of primary education; e) People who have education abroad and get accreditation to either one of the conditions in (a) and (d) can enroll in OES.](image-2.png "") 12008-2009 Education years range ofcontinuing students in OES according to their genderand level of gradeG GenderLevel of Grade 6. Grade7.Grade8.GradeTotalMale21.19120.78861.811Female22.99422.28978.601Total54.50942.826140.412When Table 1 is examined, it is seen that thereare total 140.412 continuing students in OES in Turkey;61.811 of these students are male and 78.601 arefemale. Nearly 54.509 of these students study in sixthgrade, 42.826 of them arestudents study in eighth grade. According to a researchconducted by Düzgün (2010), OES has 207.852 2Agef%15-20821-25188.7026-25.60-49-405225.1241 and over27Total207100.00 4computerf%Having a computerYes59.42No8440.58Using a computerYes17685.02No14.98Total207100.00thatcomputer but 40.6 % of them do not own a computer.Even though the rate of having a computer was not sohigh, the state of using a computer is better. Thenumber of the participants who use computer at work,school, internet café and similar places is 176 (85 %)and the number of people who do not use a computer iscan answer this question as not owning a computer. 5formal education according to their reasonsReasonf%I had to work.6My family did not allow me4I did not want to27.69Other27.69My age was over the age limit for primary education00.00Not mentioned1246.16Total26100.00 6education according to their reasons for leavingReasonf%My family did not allow52I wanted to leave on my own will49I had to work18.50I failed6There was no schoolIt was not compulsory 7Reasonf%To continue education64.25Pay gap/ seniority15.94Have a driving license27Exclusion or not beingaccepted by the society4(social status)Not mentioned10Total207100.00 8Reasonf%It is boring to read the books8Books are not relevant to the exams5It is easier to follow on the internet12.50School did not provide them2Time14.17Not mentioned5Total24100.00participants found reading the books boring and nearly20 % of them thought that the books are not relevant tothe exams.Whether the people continuing OES receivedsupportfromanyotherpeople(familymembers/relatives?etc) during the decision period of 9educationsf%Open education is more inadequate4928.49Open education is easier20Open education is more difficult158.72There is face-to-face education in formal education7.56It is difficult to study at home using personal resources105.81Subjects/syllabus is different52.91Open education is inadequate in practice4Without learning or revising the subject, you have to take the exams1.74Time is limited1.74It knowledge/information is better intermsof21.16Study comfortable conditionsaremore10.58Facilities are more sufficient10.58No counseling facility/service10.58Not mentioned4526.16Total172100.00When Table 9 is examined, according to theparticipants, the most important reason for thedifferences between formal education and openeducation is that open education is inadequate. Nearly49 (28.5 %) people said that open education is moreinadequate than formal education. 20 (11.6 %) peoplesaid that education and the exam questions were easierin open education whereas 15 (8.7 %) people said thatopen education is more difficult. 10Highly adequateAdequateIndecisiveInadequateHighly inadequatef%f%f%f%f% 11f%Registration office65Books5124.64Difficulty of the exams62.90Different education practice from formal education62.90Distance of the schools1.45Inadequate information services20.97The difference between books and exam questions20.97No study environment20.97Exam security10.48Not mentioned69Total207 100.00 © 2013 Global Journals Inc. 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