Abstract:

A case study, which is one of the qualitative research designs, was used in this study to examine identity formation in citizenship cirruculum from the Constitutional Era to the Republican Era. The study material of this research comprises the citizenship teaching programmes covering the ones from the proclamation of the 2nd Constitutional Monarchy in 1908 to the 1962-dated primary school programme draft and secondary school programme. The researcher accessed the original Ottoman texts of the relevant sources from the National Library. The curricula were analysed in four themes: individual identity, religious identity, social identity, and national identity, by using the method of content analysis. At the end of the research, it was determined that the teaching programmes of the constitutional period are clearly different from the teaching programmes of the republican period. The “Ottoman” identity was emphasized rather than the “Turkish” identity in the Constitutional Era education programme, in the category of national identity. National identity was emphasized mostly in the Republican period citizenship curricula from the 1340 (1924)-dated primary schools’ curriculum to the 1962-dated citizenship course education programme. Benevolence, responsibility, sensitivity, and solidarity are the most emphasized social values in the social identity category in the curricula of the Republican period. Individual duties and responsibilities are heavily emphasized in the individual identity category. Emphasis on religion and religious responsibilities were included in the curriculum of the Constitutional period. The least emphasis is on the religious identity category in the curricula of the Republican period. No statement regarding religious identity was found in many of the curricula examined.

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