Changes and transformations in the curricula of elementary education citizenship, democracy and human rights from 1926 to 2018

Abstract

In this study, the curricula of citizenship, democracy and human rights developed from 1926 to 2018 were examined in depth with the aim of determining changes, transformations and developments. As a qualitative study based on document analysis, the curricula were chronologically named as the 1926 and 1936 Homeland Knowledge Curriculum, the 1948 Citizenship Knowledge Curriculum, Citizenship Knowledge Curriculum embedded in the 1968 Social Studies Curriculum, the 1998 Citizenship and Human Rights Curriculum, the 2010 Citizenship and Democracy Curriculum and the 2015 and 2018 Human Rights Citizenship and Democracy Curricula. The data were collected using the document analysis technique and analysed with an inductive content analysis. As a result of the study, it was found that in the first years of the proclamation of the Republic, the duties and responsibilities of the citizens towards the state were emphasized and the love of the country and the nation was brought to the fore. It was aimed for individuals to adapt to the newly established state and to adopt the principles of the state. It was determined that in the early 2000s, the regulations made in relation to democracy and human rights and freedoms to fulfil the political conditions in the accession process to the European Union were reflected in the curricula.