The Tanzimat or Reform Period of 1839-1876 marks the beginning of westernisation in Turkey. One of the important innovations of these years was the establishment of vocational schools for girls who had graduated from primary or junior high schools, the first being the Dârülmuallimât or Teacher Training College for Girls which opened in 1870, followed shortly afterwards by the Girls College of Art. An important turning point had been the Regulations for Public Education of 1869 which made primary education compulsory for boys and girls. To train women teachers for girls' schools, Minister of Education Saffet Paşa decided to establish a teacher training college, and an entrance examination was held on 8 February 1870. Thirty-two girls won places at the new school, whose curriculum was to consist of religion and morality, grammar, arithmetic, domestic science, embroidery, drawing, calligraphy, Ottoman history and geography. Music lessons would be introduced at a later date. The schoo'su first headmaster was an elderly intellectual named Emin Efendi, and the teaching staff, consisting

of both men and women, included Musa Efendi (religion and morality), Hacı Râşid Efendi (calligraphy), İsmail Efendi (history and geography), Zalker Efendi and Madame Palker (art), Hatice Hanım, Madame Eliza Maynok and Madame Arnik (embroidery). A large house in the neighbourhood of Yerebatan in Istanbul was rented to house Istanbul Teacher Training College for Girls, which was opened by Saffet Paşa on 26 April 1870. At the opening ceremony he delivered a long speech about the respect and esteem owing to girls and women, the importance of their education and training, and the adverse consequences resulting from the neglect of female education in eastern countries. The opening of this school was an important landmark for the education of women in Turkey. Initially the course lasted one year, and in 1871 Turkey's first 17 women teachers graduated and were appointed to teaching posts at girls' schools in Istanbul. They were the pioneers of Turkish women teachers, who today number hundreds of thousands.

Subsequently the course was extended, first to two years and then to three, and the subjects taught increased with the addition of Turkish reading, teaching methods and music. Teaching methods were taught by Ayşe Sıdıka Hanım and music by Refika Hanım. Gradually the number of pupils also increased, and the college divided into two sections for primary teachers and junior high schools teachers respectively. Although the male teachers appointed to the college were all elderly, they were not permitted to converse with the female teachers or pupils, and were escorted from their studies to the classrooms. Even during lessons, male teachers were not permitted to come eye to eye with their pupils. At a time when for a woman to reveal her face to any man other than close relatives was regarded as improper, this was not regarded as strange, however, and girls who dreamed of pursuing a career longed to enter the school.

In 1895 the college moved to Mahrukîzade House in Koska, and in 1903 Arabic, Persian, composition, health, housekeeping and handwork lessons were added to the curriculum. By 1911 the college had trained 737 teachers, and now began to accept boarders from the provinces. In 1912 the college moved to Derviş Paşa House in Çapa, but this burned down shortly afterwards, and for two years the college was housed in temporary premises until moving to a magnificent new building of its own in Çapa.
The façade and some parts of the interior were decorated with Kütahya tiles and ornamental plasterwork, and over the door the inscription read Dârülmuallimât-ı Aliye (Higher Teacher Training College for Girls).

The building was in the First National Architecture style, and consisted of primary school and nursery school teacher training sections, with a primary and nursery school respectively for practical training. Now the school had around one thousand boarders and day pupils.
In 1922 the college was placed under the auspices of the new Turkish government in Ankara, and in 1923 the lattices covering the windows of the building were taken down, marking the end of the era of the seclusion of women. The college was subsequently divided into literature and history, geography, mathematics, and natural sciences department.

Film shows, lectures, piano lessons, gymnastics and folk dancing, summer courses, and increased emphasis on teaching methods were other innovations in this later period. In 1946 the school moved to Balmumcu, and from there to Ortaköy.

* Necdet Sakaoğlu is an author of numerous books on historical subjects