Since Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party came to power in 2002, various educational changes have been mandated in Turkey to raise a conservative, pious generation in line with its conservative-democratic identity. Yet, these changes have not come all at once, but implemented gradually, through a process of subtle Islamization. In this paper, drawing upon the Discourse Historical Approach in Critical Discourse Analysis, I analyze in-service teacher education policy documents produced by Ministry of National Education (MoNE) as part of the Inclusive Education Initiative for integration of Syrian refugee children into Turkish education. Through the analysis, I demonstrate how Islamic ideology is interdiscursively and intertextually woven in the construction of inclusion, refugees, and teachers and discursive strategies employed by MoNE to convince teachers to be inclusive. I argue that this initiative should be considered as a sign of Islamic ideology also infiltrating teacher education in Turkey. I conclude with implications for policymakers, educators, and researchers.

DOI: 10.1016/j.linged.2021.100923
ISSN: 0898-5898