Abstract:

Social participation is the participation of individuals in voluntary service activities in order to improve the future and conditions of society. In terms of social studies course, social participation skill is an important point in terms of the individual structure that society wants to raise. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the thoughts of pre-service social studies teachers about social participation. The study was conducted with 6 pre-service social studies teachers who were studying in the Department of Social Studies Education at a state university in the 2021-2022 academic year and were actively involved in any non-governmental organization or university community. Phenomenology survey design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study and a semi-structured interview form prepared by the researcher was used as a data collection tool. Content analysis of the interview data was conducted with MAXQDA 12 package program. According to the findings of the study, social studies teachers defined social participation as taking an active part in an organization or community, and the rights of participation were mostly mentioned as fundamental rights, freedom of expression, and the right to vote and be elected. They emphasized the importance of social participation for individuals to express their thoughts freely. They also stated that seminars and conferences, quality education, incentive activities would support social participation, while their motivation to participate in non-governmental organizations was service to society and emotional satisfaction.

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