Abstract:

The aim of the research is to investigate possible differences in opinions of teachers and parents on values which have to be taught through social studies curricula of 4th and 5th grade primary education. This study employs a survey research method. Stratified sampling method was employed to select subjects of the study from the population of the study. Two different research tools were used to collect data, a teachers’ questionnaire and a parents’ questionnaire. Both tools listed 18 values that are in social studies curriculum. Both teachers and parents are asked to choose the most important five values out of 18. Parents’ questionnaire also has a section to gather data on their socio-economic status. The data collected was subjected to frequency, percentage, mean, t-test and one way analysis of variance. Analysis of data shows that there are differences in opinions about which values are the most important between teachers and parents. That is, teachers regard “patriotism”, “responsibility” and “fairness” values as the most important values. Parents’ choices of the most important values are “honesty”, “being hardworking” and “respect (to others)”. Nevertheless, teachers and parents seem to agree on the least important values, “aesthetic” and “hospitality”. There are also some differences in attributing importance to the values among parents according to their socio-economic status. In short, there is difference between teachers’ and parents’ opinions as to which values are more important to teach to pupils. This represents a challenge to policy makers in deciding which values to teach to pupils.

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