Abstract:

The purpose of the study is to investigate parents’ opinions about the Primary Social Studies Program launched in 2004. Data was gathered via a questionnaire designed by the researchers and interviews carried out with the parents whose children were attending either a state or private primary schools. Four of the schools were state maintained and the other two were private. The close-ended questions were analyzed in a quantitative manner whilst analyses of the open-ended questions were categorized in the light of the quantitative data analysis methods. Although the parents were aware of the new program, it has emerged from the study that this process could be improved and that they would like to be given more information. Having said that, the participants’ perspectives on the new program were generally positive and the overall opinion was that it would be useful for both current and future students. There were however a number of areas of the parental concern which were highlighted in the research findings, including the difficulty level of assigned homework, the compulsion for students to use a computer, and worries about the submission of prepared or plagiarized information found on the internet. Concerns over computer access were also highlighted by the parents who do not have a computer at home. The other main issue that the parents wanted to focus on was whether teachers would have adequate training and preparation for the new program. They also underlined the problems such as school infrastructure and lack of equipment necessary for implementing the new social studies program. During the interviews, the parents expressed their concerns about the quality and consistency of the assessment and evaluation process related to their children’s performance. Key Words: Social studies, parents’ opinions, constructivism

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