Democracy perceptions of prospective primary school teachers: Comparison Poland-Turkey

Abstract

In this study, the views of the teacher candidates in the two countries were compared. The study was conducted on 36 prospective primary school teachers who were studying at the universities of Ondokuz Mayıs and Kazimierz Wielki during the spring term of 2013-2014 Academic Year. In the research which used “phenomenology” design, one of the qualitative research methods, the data was collected through mind maps. The results of the research showed that the most basic similarity in the views of prospective primary school teachers related to the principles of the concept of democracy was in the concept of “freedom” and when the maps of prospective teachers were examined, it was seen that both groups brought to the forefront the concept of “citizen/human” related to the components of democracy. While prospective teachers in Turkey brought to the forefront the principle of “Equality” which is a democracy principle, it was seen that prospective teachers in Poland brought to the forefront the principle of “Constitution/Rules”. © 2018, Ankara University. All rights reserved.