Citizenship Values in the Palestinian Social Studies Textbooks.

Abstract

The present study aimed to identify citizenship values included in the Palestinian social studies education textbooks from grades 5-7. The study sample consisted of all the pages included in the social studies education textbooks from grades 5-7 except the introduction and list of references. In this study, the researchers used a descriptive-analytical content analysis approach. The research tool consisted of a list of citizenship values developed by the researchers after referring to the literature. This study's fundamental citizenship values are; political values, religious values, social values, cognitive values, and economic values. The researchers used an Excel program to calculate the frequencies of the presented and identified values.  The results showed that 107 instances of citizenship values were contained in the Social Studies textbooks from grades 5-9, representing various values. The results also showedthat the value of national belonging came first in the three textbooks with 34 instances. The researchers attributed that to the current reality of the Palestinian lives under occupation, and they are still in the phase of pursuing independence. The results pointed that the presence of citizenship values varies between the grade levels.