Examination of the intangible cultural heritage elements in open and formal education social studies textbooks and curriculum

The societies have been changing in economical, cultural and social aspects by the effects of science and technology. This situation poses a danger for the heritage of the societies which has been created by themselves in material and non-material way, and it causes the local culture - which is especially unbound to the earth and delivered from former generations to the others - to be forgotten. Hence it is extremely important that the intangible cultural heritages which is counted as the identity of the society must be protected. It falls to education to raise people's awareness for intangible cultural heritage (ICH). Considering the skill, acquisition and values which ICH includes, It can not be trivialized that the importance of Social Studies in terms of teaching which is sensitive to cultural heritage. The most important role of the learning – teaching process, which is given to the individuals in order to keep the cultural safe, is undoubtedly the teacher. Due to not having the same quality and the skills of teachers all over the country, It also falls to the books and the programmes of instruction. That's why it is important for the textbooks to be prepared as convenient to the aim targeted to be acquired. And also because of not having the opportunity of having face to face education, the textbooks given to people who study distance education need to be convenient to the ones which are lectured in formal education. In these circumstances, it is extremely important to reveal the situation whether the textbook of both distance and formal education includes the activities, information, skill and the values related to ICH. The aim of the research is to study the content of the ICH in the textbook of 5th, 6th, 7th grade of open and distance education. The research is done by the document review which is one of the qualitative methods. During the study, as data collection tool, the textbook of 5th, 6th, 7th grade and the notes of Social Studies of 6th and 7th grade. As the data is analyzed, NVivo 10 package program is used. As the results of the study gathered from the program, it is revealed that: five elements of ICH take place in the curriculum of Social Studies of secondary school; Among all activities and acquisitions concerned to ICH, the most partaking ones are culture and heritage, and they take place at 7th grade; It is confirmed that mostly oral folks and expressions take place as the elements of ICH, and as performance arts are never shown in 5th and 6th, they are shown at 7th grade only for two times. The result of the study concerning to formal education, in the textbooks of formal education of secondary school Social Studies, the elements of the ICH are shown in all 3 grades; at the levels of formal education, the element are shown at 5th grade at most, at 7th grade at least. When compared between curriculums and the textbooks, It is revealed that there are incompatibility between the 7th grade. It is seen that the result of the study shows that the notes of distance education don't include the all elements of the ICH, and when compared to formal education, the notes of distance education include the elements determinately.According to the result of the study, it is a must to offer variety in the textbooks and notes and to mention about the cultural element; in order to raise awareness, ICH must be emphasized in textbook and notes more; It is offered to relate ICH with all units in order to raise awareness and to work on this issue. Keywords: Social studies, formal education, open education, textbook, intangible cultural heritage