Investigation of Social Studies Teachers’ Attitudes towards Democracy and Multicultural Education

Year 2023, Volume: 2023 Issue: 20, 96 - 125, 29.03.2023

Durdane Öztürk Seda Ergül

https://doi.org/10.46778/goputeb.1205263

Abstract

People from many different cultures have been living together in the world. Accordingly, multiculturalism has brought some problems. Education has a distinctive place in the resolution of these problems. Within this context, it is important to explore social studies teachers’ attitudes towards democracy and multicultural education, which is a significant element of education. The purpose of this study was to reveal social studies teachers’ attitudes towards democracy and multicultural education. In this survey and causal-comparative study, participants were composed of 332 social studies teachers. The data were collected using the “Democracy and Multicultural Education Attitude Scale”, which was developed by Toraman et al. (2015). The analyses involved Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H tests, frequency (f), percentage (%), and mean scores (X̅). The results revealed that social studies teachers’ attitudes towards democracy and multicultural education were positive. Teachers’ attitudes were positive in the dimension of prejudiced attitude towards multicultural education while they obtained more positive scores in the dimensions of attitude towards multicultural education, attitude towards democracy education, attitude towards democracy, and attitude towards cultural differences. Social studies teachers’ overall attitudes did not differ significantly by their years of experience, educational level, branch, gender, and geographical region of their schools. There were significant differences in teachers’ scores obtained from dimensions of attitude towards democracy education, attitude towards democracy, and attitude towards cultural differences in terms of educational level in favor of teachers with bachelor’s degrees. On the other hand, teachers with 1-5 years of experience had significantly higher scores from the dimension of prejudiced attitude towards multicultural education.

Keywords

Social Studies, Multiculturalism, Multicultural Education, Democracy, Cultural Differences

Sosyal Bilgiler Öğretmenlerinin Demokrasi ve Çok Kültürlü Eğitime Yönelik Tutumlarının İncelenmesi

Abstract

Dünyada birçok farklı kültürden insan bir arada yaşamaktadır. Buna bağlı olarak çok kültürlülük bazı olumsuzlukları da beraberinde getirmiştir. Olumsuzlukların çözümlenmesinde eğitimin ayrı yeri bulunmaktadır. Bu bağlamda eğitimin önemli bir öğesi olan sosyal bilgiler öğretmenlerinin demokrasi ve çok kültürlü eğitime ilişkin tutumlarının belirlenmesi önemlidir. Sosyal bilgiler öğretmenlerinin demokrasi ve çok kültürlü eğitime yönelik tutum düzeylerini ortaya koymak bu araştırmanın amacını oluşturmaktadır. Tarama ve nedensel karşılaştırma modelinin kullanıldığı araştırmaya 332 sosyal bilgiler öğretmeni katılmıştır. Verilerin toplanmasında Toraman ve diğerleri (2015) tarafından geliştirilen “Demokrasi ve Çok Kültürlü Eğitim Tutum Ölçeği” kullanılmıştır. Verilerin analizinde ise Mann Whitney U ve Kruskall Wallis H testleri ile frekans (f), yüzde (%), ağırlıklı ortalama (X̅) kullanılmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda sosyal bilgiler öğretmenlerinin demokrasi ve çok kültürlü eğitime yönelik tutumlarının olumlu olduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Sosyal bilgiler öğretmenlerin çok kültürlü eğitime yönelik ön yargılı tutum alt boyutunda tutumları olumlu iken; çok kültürlü eğitime yönelik, demokrasi eğitimine yönelik, demokrasiye yönelik ve kültürel farklılıklara yönelik tutum alt boyutlarında daha olumlu düzeyde olduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Sosyal bilgiler öğretmenlerin tutumları ölçek genelinde kıdem, eğitim düzeyi, branş, cinsiyet, görev yaptıkları bölge açısından anlamlı farklılık göstermemektedir. Eğitim düzeyi değişkeni, demokrasi eğitimine yönelik, demokrasiye yönelik ve kültürel farklılıklara yönelik tutum alt boyutlarında lisans mezunu öğretmenler lehine; kıdem değişkeni ise çok kültürlü eğitime yönelik ön yargılı tutum boyutunda 1-5 yıl arası mesleki kıdeme sahip öğretmenler lehine anlamlı farklılık göstermektedir.

Keywords

Sosyal Bilgiler, Çok Kültürlülük, Çok Kültürlü Eğitim, Demokrasi, Kültürel Farklılık

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