Analysis of the theme "rights and freedoms" in the primary school Turkish course books in terms of democracy education

Aim of the study is to reveal whether the Theme ?Rights and Freedoms? in the Turkish Course Books is appropriate and adequate enough for the democracy education. A content analysis and questionnaire were used as data collection instruments for the purpose of the study.When syllabi for Turkish course (for 6, 7, 8 grades) were examined, it was determined that there was no mention of democracy and rights and freedoms in the aims and objectives in the Turkish course.Because the theme ?Rights and Freedoms? were available only in 7 Grade Turkish Course Teacher?s Book by Pasifik Publishing, it was handled only within the frame of this book. It was found out that there was no mention of democracy and rights and freedoms in ?Aims and Objectives? in the theme. The place of democratic values; basic skills related with democracy education; terms ?rights, freedom and democracy? was determined. It was figured out that democracy education was more dominant than language skills and textual analyses in the activities of the theme.The questionnaire was majorly created in line with 8 Grade Education Program of Citizenship and Democracy Education Lesson. The universy of the research is 168 Turkish teachers who work in Çanakkale, and the sample of the research is 118 Turkish teacher. SPSS 15.0 was used to process the data. It was concluded from the remarks and views of the teachers that the theme ?Rights and Freedoms? is very effective in instilling the basic skills pertaining to the awareness and consciousness of rights and freedoms, democracy culture, democratic values and democracy education. It was also discovered that the views of Turkish teachers about the effect of the theme on democracy education did not vary in terms of gender. It was observed that the less effective the teachers considered the theme in democracy education the experience levels they got.Keywords: Democracy, education of democracy, democracy values, basic skills related with democracy education, Theme of Rights and Freedoms, Turkish Course Books.