History education and national holidays: The evaluation of celebrations at the schools from the perspectives of teachers and students

This study was planned to evaluate the celebrations at the national holidays from the perspectives of teachers and students, based on the premises of history education.The instrument in the study was a questionnaire, designed by the researcher, which was constructed in accordance with the principles of history education and the aims of national holiday celebrations. The questionnaire was applied to the sample. The questionnaire organized under 7 sections involves the questions about demographic information, the aims of national holidays, the content, the teaching process, the activities done at the national holidays, the evaluation of national holidays, the suggestions. The data were analyzed with frequencies and percentages.At the end of the study, it was found that the teachers and students did not find some aspects of the celebrations at the national holidays effective, and that they pointed out that the construct of the celebrations and the activities at the celebrations should be changed.