Bibliometric and content analysis of studies on values education in primary school

Values can be defined as the principles that guide our lives, preferences and decisions, such as preferring something to something else, giving more value to events and situations, and showing attitudes and beliefs. Values education, which is given in schools after the family, continues to be given in a planned way by taking place in the programs. In recent years, the changes in education policies, the use of technology and the influence of the media have also gradually changed their value orientations. In this research, it is aimed to examine the studies on values education in primary school and to make bibliometric and content analysis of the obtained studies. In line with this purpose, the trends of the national and international studies conducted over the years have been tried to be determined. The sample of the research consists of 10,892 international articles published between 1980-2022 in the Web of Science (WoS) database and 150 national theses and 179 articles published in the YOK Thesis, TR Index and SOBİAD Citation İndex databases between 1999-2022. The studies identified in the international database were analyzed bibliometrically using the VOSviewer program in terms of the most cited year, keyword, journal, author, country and institution. Studies identified in national databases were analyzed by content analysis in terms of the university and institute in which they were published, the name of the journal, the type of study, the year of publication, the purpose of the study, the research method and design used, the target audience, the data collection tool used, the data analysis technique used, the value studied, and the discipline area studied. Findings related to bibliometric analysis were visualized with scientific network maps, and findings related to content analysis were presented in tables and graphics by calculating frequencies and percentages. In the light of the findings obtained, the most cited year in international studies in the field of values education in primary school is 2022, the highest number of citations 18958, the most cited keyword values, the most cited journal Teaching and Teacher Education, the most the most cited organization is Linkoping University (Sweden), the most cited author is Robert Thornberg, and the most cited countries are England, Sweden, and Australia. In the light of the findings obtained, Gazi University, the university where the theses made in the field of values education in primary education are included in national databases, was published the most, and the institute of educational sciences was the institute that published the most theses. It has been determined that the journal in which the articles are published the most is the Journal of Values Education. While the most studies were published in 2019, the most published type was the article. When the studies were examined according to their objectives, it was determined that most of the studies were conducted to determine the views of teachers. When the studies are examined according to the methods and patterns used, it is concluded that the most preferred method is qualitative methods and the case study pattern is used, the most preferred audience is the teachers, the interview forms are preferred as the data collection tool, and it was concluded that content analysis is the most used among qualitative data analysis techniques. In the published studies, it has also been determined that the value of respect comes to the fore, and it is mostly done in the field of social studies discipline. It is thought that this study, in which studies on a school level are examined, will guide researchers in studies to be conducted in the literature and contribute to the literature. Keywords: values education, primary school, bibliometric analysis, content analysis