An analysis of domain specific skills in 9th and 10th grade Turkish history textbooks

Dinç E., Kıral N. Z.

History Educators International Research Network [HEIRNET], Padua, Italy, 26 - 28 August 2026, pp.56, (Summary Text)

  • Publication Type: Conference Paper / Summary Text
  • City: Padua
  • Country: Italy
  • Page Numbers: pp.56
  • Anadolu University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

For over a century, curricula and textbooks in Turkey have been prepared in line with a centralized approach. Throughout this process, textbooks have continued to function as the primary tool for conveying curricula to students, especially in subjects like history. Reforms generally aim to ensure that dominant social perceptions and educational developments are reflected in learning processes accordingly. This also allows for the integration of scientific developments regarding teaching-learning processes into the curricula. Starting from early 1990s, secondary history curriculum in Turkey have undergone four comprehensive changes. The latest of these changes is the 2024 curriculum, which strongly emphasizes the transition to a skill and value-based teaching-learning approach. Developed with the principle of raising competent and virtuous individuals, one of the striking aspects of this program is aiming to equip students with various skills; like conceptual, social-emotional, field-specific, and literacy skills. Within the scope of the history course, field-specific skills are categorized as social sciences field skills. The primary objective of this study is to examine the 9th and 10th-grade history textbooks prepared in accordance with the 2024 history curriculum to find out the extent and the way in which the social sciences field skills are reflected in them. In this direction, the 9th and 10th-grade history textbooks will first be quantitatively analysed to determine the degree to which the domain specific skills prescribed in the curriculum have been transferred. Subsequently, the study will evaluate how each of these skills is handled in the textbooks; through which examples, activities, and/or applications they are intended to be imparted to students; and to what extent these processes are compatible with the nature of the relevant skill. In other words, the suitability and sufficiency of the content presented in the textbooks will be assessed in terms of aiding students acquire these skills.