Teachers’ views on policy issues in the social studies curriculum

Abstract

The education system, which is used by the ruling power to adopt its ideology while establishing The objectives of the education system, is intertwined with politics by its nature. With this aspect, it İs unlikely to consider education separately from politics. Social Studies education stands out as a Field where ideology is intensely given to individuals. Therefore, it is important to examine the social Studies curriculum and to reveal the current situation of the curriculum for the acquisition of political Skills. The views of teachers, who are the implementers of the curriculum, on the curriculum, the İmplementation of the curriculum or the elimination of the curriculum deficiencies, if any, and supporting the curriculum with new ideas are important. This study was considered important to reveal the current situation regarding the social studies curriculum and to determine the views of the curriculum implementers on its development if needed. The phenomenological research design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used to determine the views of Social Studies Teachers on political literacy. 20 Social Studies teachers working in general schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in the central district of Adıyaman province constituted the study group of this research. In the study, a standardized open-ended interview form was used to collect data from teachers. The data obtained at the end of the data collection process were analyzed by the “content analysis” method, which mainly involves the pattern determination, coding, and categorization processes. Within the scope of the results obtained, the majority of the Social Studies teachers participating in the study indicated that political literacy subjects were not appropriate for the student level. While providing justification for it, they stated that politics was not appropriate for the age level of students, the society was not ready for it, or the concepts related to politics included in the curriculum were abstract. It is necessary to indicate that teachers’ statements are actually the result of a social reflection. It can be said that political-based events that have occurred in previous periods in Turkey are the reason why politics is generally considered negative.