History

Gazi University is a leading institution that contributes significantly to the development of the Guidance and Psychological Counseling (RPD) program in Türkiye. Gazi University Gazi Faculty of Education played a major role in the initiation and development of the understanding of "Guidance", which forms the groundwork for the Guidance and Psychological Counseling field in Türkiye. The roots of Gazi Guidance and Psychological Counseling Department are almost as old as the history of the republic. In this sense, to understand the history of the department, the leading names and their activities, which left important traces in the education and training processes in the department and had important effects on the creation and development of the department, are briefly mentioned below. 

Muharrem KEPÇEOĞLU, who is known for his important contributions in the field of Guidance and Psychological Counseling, and other names whose examples are given here who have directly or indirectly pioneered in the field of psychological counseling today, have served at Gazi University Gazi Faculty of Education and have contributed to the creation of the quality and pioneering nature of today's “Gazi PDR” by making a mark on the university's educational processes.

In addition to hosting pioneers who contributed to the establishment and development of the field of Guidance and Psychological Counseling in our country, Gazi University Gazi Education Faculty also led the way in taking the first steps in the field of guidance and psychological counseling in the country. In the years 1949-1950, one of the teachers of Gazi Education Institute Education Department, Dr. Mitat ENÇ established the "Educational Counseling Office" at the Gazi Education Institute, as it was then known. The aims of this office was to inform families about the general education of their children and to guide the education of children whose learning became difficult and problematic. In this office, children were asked to fill out “Child Recognition Slips” to try to understand the areas where they had problems and the reasons for them. Tests were applied to discover the intelligence, personality, emotional state and inner world of the child, and examination, consultation, diagnosis and treatment procedures were carried out. When the objectives of this office are examined, it can be said that the foundations of the guidance and psychological counseling services, especially in the field of education, were laid here. At Gazi Education Institute, the Educational Counseling Bureau which was established with the work of Dr. Enç created an important ground for the development of awareness and positive attitude towards guidance, and following this, "Guidance" and "Guidance Techniques" courses were added to the program of the Department of Special Education and Pedagogy for the first time in Türkiye in 1952. With this, the "individual guidance" application for students started at the Institute, and a good base was prepared for guidance. This situation was discussed at the 5th National Education Council in 1953 and the establishment of a "Child Examination Bureau" in each province was accepted. In this process, "Guidance Seminars" were held, in which Gazi Education Institute teachers took part. In addition to this, under the leadership of Gazi Education Institute, the first Guidance and Research Center in Türkiye was established in 1955 by the Ankara Provincial Directorate of National Education in Ankara Demirlibahçe Primary School and was named "Psychological Service Center", and the first graduates of the Institute were assigned here. In short, Gazi Education Institute has pioneered the field of Special Education and Guidance in Türkiye, both academically and practically.