From history to social studies: Change and continuity in history teaching at secondary school level in Turkey

In this research, which aims to reveal the changes that have occurred in history teaching at the secondary school level since the Social Studies courses started to be taught instead of History courses until today, the 1970 Secondary School History program, the 1969 Social Studies program, the 1985 National History program, and the 1998, 2005 and 2017 Social Studies curricula were examined. The 1970 Middle School History course program, which was the last History course implemented in middle schools before the introduction of the Social Studies course in our country, bears the traces of the humanist education approach. History teaching in the first Social Studies curriculum, which was implemented nationwide in the 1973-1974 academic year, was structured around concepts such as creating a history culture, providing citizenship education, developing national consciousness, and encouraging global citizenship and peace education. In 1985, the Social Studies course was abolished, and National History, National Geography, and Civics courses were introduced. Influenced by the Turkish-Islamic Synthesis ideology, the National History course aimed to instill in students a sense of nationhood, Turkish identity, and adherence to the official ideology. The Social Studies course, which replaced National History in 1998, aimed to develop citizenship awareness, understanding of historical change and continuity, and historiographical skills through history instruction. With the transition to the constructivist education approach in 2005, the revised Social Studies curriculum allocated less space to history topics; however, it is evident that the objectives focused on developing historiographical skills were increased. The 2017 Social Studies curriculum demonstrates a continued trend of reduced emphasis on history topics. Nevertheless, the inclusion of concepts such as values, skills, oral history, and local history related to history instruction indicates the adoption of a multi-layered approach to history education within the curriculum. This study concludes that history topics have been incorporated into Social Studies curricula to facilitate cultural transmission, citizenship education, and the development of higher-order thinking skills. Furthermore, the placement of history topics within the curricula has been influenced by political and social transformations and educational policies.