Social studies teachers' and students' perception of the citizenship and democracy education course

Abstract

In Turkey, one of the objectives of elementary eighth grade is to equip students with basic democratic citizenship skills by means of the citizenship and democracy education course. This study aims to understand social studies teachers' and students' perception of citizenship and democracy education. The participants of this phenomenological study were 10 social studies teachers and 15 eighth graders who were selected through criterion sampling. The data for the study were gathered with participant observations in the citizenship and democracy education lessons of two of the teachers and semi-structured interviews, and analysed thematically. The study revealed that this course was not sufficiently emphasized in the elementary curriculum, its content was not enough to equip students with citizenship skills, the necessary importance was not attributed to the course, and the satisfaction levels of the teachers and students were low. Based on the results of the study, it can be suggested that this course should be included as a separate course at each grade level in elementary curriculum, its content should be renewed based on citizenship skills, students' interests and readiness levels, student-centered teaching approaches should be adopted, and teachers should be informed about citizenship and democracy education in pre- and in-service period.