Abstract:
In Turkey, one of the objectives of elementary eighth grade is to equip students
with basic democratic citizenship skills by means of the citizenship and democracy
education course. This study aims to understand social studies teachers' and
students' perception of citizenship and democracy education. The participants of
this phenomenological study were 10 social studies teachers and 15 eighth graders
who were selected through criterion sampling. The data for the study were gathered
with participant observations in the citizenship and democracy education lessons of
two of the teachers and semi-structured interviews, and analysed thematically. The
study revealed that this course was not sufficiently emphasized in the elementary
curriculum, its content was not enough to equip students with citizenship skills, the
necessary importance was not attributed to the course, and the satisfaction levels of
the teachers and students were low. Based on the results of the study, it can be
suggested that this course should be included as a separate course at each grade
level in elementary curriculum, its content should be renewed based on citizenship
skills, students' interests and readiness levels, student-centered teaching
approaches should be adopted, and teachers should be informed about citizenship
and democracy education in pre- and in-service period.
