The Comparison of Social Studies Teaching Undergraduate Programs Applied in 2006 and 2018 in Turkey

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the social studies teacher education program in the context of scientific field knowledge related to social studies, professional teaching knowledge, general culture, social studies education and teaching practice lessons implemented since 2018 in Turkey and containing important changes according to the previous program. In this study, document analysis method which is one of the qualitative research methods is used. The findings were analyzed by using descriptive analysis technique. It is seen that the new social studies program is concerned with creating a standard in the faculties of education. The scientific field knowledge related to social studies and teaching of social studies were collected in the title of scientific field education. Hours, credits and ECTS values of scientific field courses related to social studies have been significantly reduced. On the other hand, the course hours, credits and ECTS values of the teaching courses have been increased significantly. There are significant changes in the scope of general culture courses. Teaching practice was added to two semesters as Teaching Practice I and Teaching Practice II. However, the School Experience course, which constitutes a step in the teaching practice, has been removed from the program. The total credits of the undergraduate programs were reduced from 156 to 147 and the total course hours from 170 to 154. In addition, 25% of elective courses were given in the program, the diversity of elective courses was increased and the process was adapted to the Bologna process