Evaluation of the Process of Developing Social Participation Skills in Secondary School Social Studies Courses and School Practices

Abstract

Social participation is one of the citizenship skills. Social studies course is the basic course in which citizenship knowledge, skills, and values are gained. This research reveals how fifth-grade social studies students acquire social participation skills within the framework of social studies courses and school practices. A case study, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. Thirty-four fifth grade students and social studies teachers from a secondary school in a city center participated in the study at an upper socio-economic level. The research data were obtained from participant observations, semi-structured student and teacher interviews, and social studies textbooks in the 2017-2018 academic year. Content analysis was used in the analysis of the gathered data. At the end of the analyses, it was found that the teachers and students perceive social participation in terms of communal participation, educational/social activities, academic participation, communication skills, and rights. In the development of students' social participation skills, the scope of social studies, the textbook's content, teacher attitudes, behaviors, and school practices were found to be supportive factors. In contrast, teacher attitudes, beliefs and behaviors, student tendencies, beliefs and behaviors, and parent and school influence were inhibitory factors.