Skill hierarchies of teacher candidates: An analysis in the context of skills included in the social studies curriculum in Turkey

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the opinions of Social Studies (SS) teacher candidates on the skills in the 2018 Social Studies Curriculum (SSC) and reveal their skill hierarchies with justifications. For this purpose, we used the basic qualitative research design widely used in education. The participant group of the research consists of SS teacher candidates. We used criterion sampling, a purposeful sampling method, to determine the participant group. The 57 SS teacher candidates participated in the study. The data were collected through online interviews and written answers through an interview form consisting of open-ended questions. The content analysis approach was used in the analysis of the data. The results revealed that the skills considered most significant by the majority of the teacher candidates were communication, empathy, innovative thinking, critical thinking, and problem-solving. In contrast, the least significant ones were financial literacy, media literacy, legal literacy, perception of space, and digital literacy. Finally, it was determined that the participants mostly wished they added to the curriculum were leadership, creative thinking, interpretation, adaptation, intercultural communication and participation, self-confidence, and time management. This result also shows a difference of opinion about creative thinking skills.