Inclusive education in the cource of social studies: A phenomenological research

Social Studies education and inclusive education aim at social development by ensuring that individuals from the entire segments of society are offered with the opportunity to have equal and qualified education, with the understanding of education that can be accessed by everyone in the global world we live in. The aim of this research is to comprehend the state of inclusive education in Social Studies Education based on the perceptions, experiences and practices of the teachers of social studies and their approach to the 2018 Social Studies Curriculum. Qualitative research approach and phenomenology pattern have been adopted in accordance with the objectives of the research. The research has been conducted with 5 teachers of in two public schools within the fall semester of the 2018-2019 academic year. The research data has been collected through semi-structured interviews, Student Personal Data Sheet, observations, and researcher logs. The data has been analyzed through induction analysis. As a result of the research, it has been revealed that the teachers of social studies had a positive perception of inclusive education but did not apply this approach in teaching processes as they did not find it viable. It has been observed that teachers associate inclusive education to a greater extent with the students with special needs and with the refugee status, and do not diversify educational teaching practices based on the inclusive education approach. In addition, it has been concluded that their experience and practices in inclusive education are mainly aimed at evaluating students with special needs. Lastly it was concluded that teachers could not evaluate the 2018 Social Studies Curriculum in terms of inclusive education. Based on the results of the research, it is recommended that teachers differentiate their educational practices in according to inclusive education, diversify their methods, teaching materials and assessment and evaluation practices in line with the needs of their students. Keywords: Social studies cource, Inclusive education, Disadvantaged students.