Abstract:

Values education is an important part of Primary School Social Studies Education Program. Program mentions values which are expected to teach in social studies course. Additionally, values education approaches are introduced and sample activities are presented in the program. Therefore, social studies pre-service teachers should be informed both theoretically and practically regarding values education about which they will design activities to be implemented in social studies. An elective course named Values Education in Social Studies are opened for the purpose of informing pre-service teachers on theoretical dimension of values education, and developing their practice skills with micro-teaching activities. This study aimed at determining social studies pre-service teachers’ views regarding the Values Education in Social Studies course. Participants of the study were 29 pre-service teachers who took this elective course in fall term of 2010-2011 academic year. Two of participants were Spanish students who came to Turkey with Erasmus student mobility program. This study was conducted through survey model. Data were collected at the beginning and end of the semester using two different questionnaires to assess changes in pre-service teachers’ views about values education across the teaching period. This elective course was given for the first time in Social Studies Teacher Training Program. Therefore, at the beginning of the course an open-ended questionnaire was applied to pre-service teachers to determine their expectations from the course and their reasons for choosing the course. The second questionnaire which was applied at the end of the course had questions about pre-service teachers’ views and recommendations regarding the course. Descriptive analysis technique was used in the analysis of data obtained from the questionnaires. Results of the study revealed that majority of pre-service teachers did not choose the course consciously. At the beginning, they took that elective course to complete their degree. At the end of the course pre-service teachers stated that the course help them develop awareness regarding values education. Moreover, they emphasized that the course contribute their knowledge and skills about how to teach values in their professional life.

Keywords:

Social studies, pre-service teacher, values education.