Investigation of social studies teachers' perceptions of citizenship and citizenship education

Investigation of Social Studies Teachers' Perceptions of Citizenship and Citizenship Education The concept of citizenship has long been an important place in the whole political system. Economic, social, political and technological developments have brought the concept of citizenship on the table again. Especially wars, mass migration caused by the war, the globalization of the economy, ignorance of voters in several countries, and environmental problems have led to reconsideration of the meaning of citizenship. Nurturing new generations as good citizens considered as the main objective of schooling. If the definitions of social studies examines, it can be seen that the main purpose of social studies is to equip students with civic knowledge, attitudes, and values. Social studies plays crucial role in Turkey to achieve the goal of raising new generations as good citizens. Teachers are the most effective component of civic education as well as curriculum and educational materials. Therefore, determining social studies teachers' opinions about teaching citizenship is important to attain the social studies and civic education acquisitions. The purpose of this research is to examine social studies teachers' perception of citizenship and citizenship education. In this research, the author applied mixed method and used both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis techniques. The sample of the study consisted of 461 social studies teachers in Denizli, İzmir, and Kütahya. The result of the study showed that social studies teachers agreed that civic topics are important for the sake of the country. Also it can be concluded from the results that social studies teachers thought that they are qualified to teach civic topics. In addition almost all participants mentioned that civic education should be given as a separate course instead of being inside of the social studies. According to many participants, the main purpose of the citizenship education is development of civic skills. Moreover, social studies teachers asserted that citizenship education must provide patriotism. In addition, the study showed that social studies teachers applied constructivist approach to teaching citizenship topics and they think that textbooks are not qualified. Keywords: Citizenship, social studies, teachers.