8th grade students' perceptions of civic issues and participation in electoral, political and civic activities

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Tezin Türü: Doktora

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Eğitim Bilimleri Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2010

Öğrenci: AYŞEGÜL MISIRLI-ÖZSOY

Danışman: ALİ YILDIRIM

Özet:

The purpose of the study is to investigate 8th grade Turkish students’ perceptions towards civic concepts and issues like good citizenship, government responsibilities and women’s political and social rights and to determine the factors affecting their intentions to participate in electoral, political and civic activities. In order to achieve this aim, a nation-wide survey was conducted with a sample of 2497 students from 60 schools in 21 provinces. The questionnaire developed by International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) on civic education was adapted and used as the data collection instrument. The data obtained from the sample were analyzed through both descriptive (mean, frequencies and percentages) and inferential statistics (ANOVA, Hierarchical Multiple Regression). The results revealed that students value both conventional and social movement citizenship activities to be a good citizen. However, although they plan to participate in electoral and civic activities, more than half of them do not plan to participate in political activities such as joining a party, being a candidate for a local office. Moreover, it was found that the variances in students’ intentions to participate in electoral, political and civic activities were explained by students’ background characteristics, their media consumption habits, their discussion practices and discussion environment in classrooms, curricular and extracurricular experiences and finally by their perceptions of good citizenship and participation in school. Findings were discussed around relevant literature both in Turkey and abroad.