In 1908 he joined Darulfünun as a faculty member and taught calligraphy.[4] He continued his academic studies after his return from Europe in 1911 and became a professor of pedagogy in 1913.[3] From 1914 he taught psychology at the Teachers School for Girls.[5] In 1921 he was named as the dean of the Faculty of Letters at Darulfünun which he held the post until 1924 when he was appointed rector of the university.[4] He had to resign from office in 1927[2] due to his support for the student demonstrations against an increase in the price of train tickets.[5][6]
He continued to serve as a faculty member and taught sociology and ethics.[5] In 1930 he joined the Free Republican Party and functioned as the chair of its Istanbul branch.[5] However, it was closed in November 1930 three months after its establishment.[5] He was dismissed from the university in 1933 when a university reform law was put in force.[4] He established a weekly cultural magazine, Yeni Adam, in 1934 and edited it until the 1960s.[4]
In 1941 Baltacıoğlu joined Ankara University's Faculty of Language, History and Geography and was promoted to the professorship in pedagogy.[4] Between 1942 and 1950 he was a member of the Parliament for two terms.[2] He was first a deputy for Afyon and then for Kırşehir.[4] In 1956 he started another magazine named Din Yolu (Turkish: Road of Religion) which ceased publication shortly after its establishment.[4]
In the period between 1914 and 1920 he was a contributor toTürk Yurdu journal.[3] He was among those who played a role in shaping the education of Turkey after its establishment as a republic.[7]
He published various books, including Talim ve Terbiyede İnkılap (Turkish: Revolution in Education) (1912), Terbiye ve İman (Turkish: Discipline and Faith) (1914), Resmin Usul-ü Tedrisi (Turkish: Procedures of Painting) (1915), Din ve Hayat (Turkish: Religion and Life) (1918), İçtimai Mektep (Turkish: Social School) (1942) and Türke Doğru (Turkish: Towards the Turk) (1943).[2] There are also numerous articles written by him which are concerned with pedadogy, sociology, arts, religion, philosophy and literature.[2] He translated Quran into Turkish and published it in 1957.[2]
İsmail Hakkı was a member of the Committee of Union and Progress.[5] He was among those who objected the invasion of Anatolia by the Allied forces and participated in the demonstrations held in Sultanahmet square as a speaker in 1919 against the Greek invasion of İzmir.[3] Baltacıoğlu was a follower of Émile Durkheim and Ziya Gökalp.[4][8] However, his sociological views were slightly different from theirs.[4] For instance, Baltacıoğlu paid much more attention to religion, language and arts than other social institutions in that for him these three are the basis of a society's traditions.[4] His views were also influenced from the French philosopher Henri Bergson.[7] For Baltacıoğlu sociology must "arrange social life."[7] He termed his approach as traditionalism.[5]
Baltacıoğlu was a supporter of the policies implemented by the Presidents Atatürk and İsmet İnönü.[5][8]
