Attitudes and perceptions of social studies teacher candidates towards values education

The aim of the study is to examine the attitudes and perceptions of pre-service social studies teachers towards values education in terms of various variables. In the study, mixed methods method was used in which quantitative and qualitative data were used together. In the quantitative dimension of the study, maximum variation sampling was used among purposive sampling methods. In the qualitative dimension of the study, criterion sampling, one of the purposive sampling methods, was used. The research was conducted by determining one university from each of the seven regions of Turkey as a sample. In the study titled "Attitudes and Perceptions of Prospective Social Studies Teachers Towards Values Education", the "Value Education Attitude Scale" developed by Filiz Çetin (2018) was applied to 1029 prospective Social Studies teachers to determine the attitudes of prospective teachers. The scale has a 3-factor structure consisting of 31 questions. In order to determine the perceptions of pre-service Social Studies teachers towards values education, the "Interview Form" consisting of 11 questions was applied to 70 candidates. Chi-Square Kruscal Wallis H test, Kolmogorov and Shapiro Wilk's test, Mann Whitney U test were applied using SPSS Package program to determine whether the attitudes of pre-service Social Studies teachers show significant differences in terms of some variables. In the study, the attitudes of pre-service social studies teachers towards value education are high. It was seen that there was a difference in the level of attitudes towards values education in terms of the region where the prospective teachers live, the university where they study, NGO membership, student club membership, grade level, gender, academic grade point averages. There was no significant difference in the education level of the parents and the economic status variable. Descriptive analysis was used to analyze the qualitative dimension of the study. In this context, qualitative data were analyzed using MAXQDA program. Findings related to the perceptions of pre-service Social Studies teachers on the definitions and importance of values and values education, factors affecting values education, values education in terms of the 2018 Social Studies curriculum, values education and value transfer within the scope of Social Studies course, effective values education in Social Studies course, values education in terms of university, values education within the scope of teaching practice, problems in values education and solution suggestions were included. KEYWORDS: Values, Values Education, Social Studies, Attitude, Perception, Social Studies Teacher Candidates