Introduction

Dear Colleagues:
 

We are pleased to announce that as  Gazi University & Association for Social Studies Educators, we are organizing the third international symposium titled as “International Symposium on Social Studies Education III: “Educational Chess: Education System of Turkey, 444 and Social Studies” in Ankara, Turkey.

We have witnessed an important educational change in Turkey during last year. It became to be known as 444 which re-arranged schooling as 4 years in every stage pre-university level. That is, pupils have to study 4 years in primary, 4 years in middle school and 4 years in high school all of which are compulsory.

It appears that the rationale for introducing 444 is ideological as well as pedagogical. Whatever the reasons, it already started to have an impact, and it appears to have even greater impact in future, on Turkish schooling. That is why this year’s theme is 444. The new system might be having an effect on every aspect of Turkish education system. However, the symposium committee’s expectations from researchers is that they would contribute to the symposium with papers concerned mostly about issues at primary and secondary level especially with a focus on social studies.

The USBES symposium and, therefore, some of the themes covered by it have started to be traditional due to their timeless nature, and being very essence of social studies. The themes are; Democracy, Human Rights, Citizenship and Citizenship Education, Globalization, European Union and Social Studies in Turkish Education and Values Education. Therefore,  as previously these themes will be covered in this year’s symposium too. The newest inclusion to symposium themes are ‘Democracy and Social Media’  and  ‘Special Education and Social Studies’. The last year’s events like Taksim Gezi Park protests in Turkey were one of the reason for their inclusion in this year’s symposium.

The Turkish and international educators that will attend the symposium will bring about desired exchange of knowledge and experiences about the issues covered by this symposium. We would like to welcome your papers and thank to you for your contribution in advance.