Investigation of the relationship between the conscious awareness levels of social studies teachers and their self-confidence towards teaching

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between social studies teachers' conscious awareness levels and their self-confidence towards teaching. The survey model, one of the quantitative research designs, was used in the research. The population of the research consists of 319 social studies teachers working in secondary schools in Batman city center in the 2022-2023 academic year. Within the scope of the research, an attempt was made to reach the entire universe without selecting a sample. 303 social studies teachers who could be reached were involved in the research. The "Awareness in Teaching Scale" and "Self-Confidence Scale for Teaching" was used as a data collection tool in the research. "Awareness in Teaching Scale" consists of 14 items and 2 subscales. The Cronbach-Alpha reliability coefficient of the scale was calculated as .73. The "Self-Confidence Scale for Teaching" consists of 9 items. Cronbach-Alpha reliability coefficient was calculated as .86. SPSS statistical computer package program was used to analyze the data. In order to determine the effect of social studies teachers' conscious awareness on their self-confidence towards teaching, descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, etc.) as well as independent samples t Test (Independent Samples t Test), one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), which are parametric tests, were used, Pearson correlation analysis and Multiple Regression analysis were used. According to the findings obtained from the research, variables such as gender, age, seniority, career, taking courses outside the field, school's teaching style and field change do not have a significant effect on the conscious awareness levels of social studies teachers. When the educational status of the variables is examined, it is found that there is a significant difference between teachers with bachelor's degree and teachers with postgraduate degree in favor of teachers with bachelor's degree and according to the course load variable, there is a significant difference between teachers with low course load and those with high course load in favor of teachers with high course load. It is found that variables such as gender, age, educational status, seniority, career, course load, taking courses outside the field, school's teaching style and field change do not have a significant effect on the self-confidence of social studies teachers. According to the Pearson correlation analysis results, it is found that there is a positive and moderately significant relationship between social studies teachers' awareness in teaching and their self-confidence in teaching. According to the results of the multiple linear regression analysis, it is found that there is a significant relationship between the variables of awareness in teaching, internal conscious awareness and interpersonal conscious awareness and self-confidence in teaching. When the data obtained from the research were evaluated as a whole, it was determined that the conscious awareness and self-confidence levels of social studies teachers were high. Key Words: Conscious awareness, self-confidence, teaching, social studies.