Developing career consciousness in the social studies course: Teacher views and practices

In the 21st century, societies have been into a rapid change and development process socially, culturally, politically and technologically. These changes and developments have also affected the working life and job qualifications. The skills and qualifications expected from employees are changing every other day. Therefore, it is only possible for individuals to adapt to this situation and turn it into an opportunity in their careers by having career consciousness. The educational process and elementary education have an important place in individuals' having career consciousness. In terms of being an experiential course and including elements towards developing career consciousness in its curriculum, the social studies course is one of the important courses to develop career consciousness in students. The aim of this study was to identify social studies teachers' views on the concepts of career and career consciousness, and the practices for career consciousness development in the social studies course. The study was designed in accordance with the phenomenographical design that is a qualitative research method. The participants were selected based on criterion sampling method that is a purposive sampling method. In this regard, 12 social studies teachers working in schools with low, medium and high socio-economic status and having an experience of at least five years were included in the study. The data were gathered through semi-structured interview and participant observation techniques. The gathered data were analysed with inductive analysis method. Nvivo 10 qualitative data analysis software was used in data analysis. In the study, it was found that the social studies teachers evaluated the concept of career as social and individual. As for the concept of career consciousness, the teachers evaluated it in terms of their own teaching profession. Whereas most of the teachers stated that middle school level was important for developing career consciousness, some teachers asserted that the middle school period was somewhat early for practices of developing career consciousness. In addition, the teachers stated that guidance activities were important in developing career consciousness. With respect to the place and importance of developing career consciousness in the social studies course, the teachers indicated that the course was important because it was an experiential course and included content and activities towards developing career consciousness. Some teachers said that the contents on developing career consciousness were not attributed importance because they were not asked in tests. Regarding the social studies curriculum, the teachers stated that the elements related to developing career consciousness were not sufficiently included in the curriculum, and those that were in the curriculum could not be reflected on the practice. It was found that the methods that the teachers most frequently used in terms of the practices for developing career consciousness were making use of the coursebook, informing students verbally, making them take notes and using Powerpoint presentations. In the context of developing career consciousness in students, the teachers stated to have problems due to the curriculum being too intense, students only thinking about the economical income of professions, and an effective and long-term educational system not being able to be implemented. The teachers' solutions for the problems included ensuring cooperation between subject area teachers, guidance service and families, providing the education for developing career consciousness at earlier ages, orienting students to the higher stages of education based on their interests and abilities, organising trips to business areas, inviting professional to schools by organising career days, forming career clubs and ensuring students to do activities in these clubs, improving the elements of developing career consciousness in the social studies curriculum, and overcoming the deficiencies of physical equipment and infrastructure in schools. Key Words: Social studies, social studies curriculum, career, developing career consciousness.