Study of teachers candidates' democratic citizenship attitudes in terms of various variables

Democracy is a form of government based on sovereignty of the people, in which the people directs administrative mechanism through its desires, freedom of speech comprehends minority as well as majority of them and they can exercise their freedoms and rights. Democracy is beyond the sum of rights and freedoms protected by constitution. Democracy is a philosophy and a way of life. In that, we can respond the ideal citizen dilemma which is the main concern of education studies as citizens who live according to democratic principles and values. Because one of the basic principals of education is the responsibility to protect humanity's common heritage for future generations. The values are transmitted by teachers in education system. Teachers' behaviors will have an impact on students who represent future generations. Especially, social studies course, in terms of its main focus, have potentiality to make an impact more than other educational areas and courses. Therefore, social studies' teachers can be regarded as potential role models and simultaneously these teachers should be competent and have responsible behaviors. This study aims to determine the perceptions of prospective teachers, of fundamental and private education, on democratic citizenship. In order to determine this, Democratic Citizenship Attitude Scale was used as data collection tool. 233 prospective teachers, who study in three different areas, participated in the survey. The data collection was analyzed with SPSS-25 Package Programme. In the analyses, according to the number of compared groups, t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used. Correlation matrices were examined in the analysis of continuous variables. According to findings, there is a considerable difference between the perceptions of prospective teachers on democratic citizenship, according to whether they have taken social studies course and what they study. No significant difference was found in the comparisons made in terms of gender, parents' education and employment status, and grade level. . In addition, a significant and positive relationship was found between teacher candidates' democratic citizenship attitudes and the number of books they read. KEY TERMS Social Studies Education, Democracy, Democratic Values, Democratic Education, Democratic Citizenship