Social Sciences Teaching: Building a Holistic Approach from Student Teachers’ Social Representations

Yamilé Pérez-Guilarte, Francisco Xosé Armas-Quintá and Xosé Carlos Macía-Arce
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Yamilé Pérez-Guilarte: Faculty of Educational Studies, Department of Specific Teaching Training and Research and Diagnosis Methods in Education, Universidade da Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain
Francisco Xosé Armas-Quintá: Faculty of Teacher Training, Department of Applied Learning, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 27002 Lugo, Spain
Xosé Carlos Macía-Arce: Faculty of Education Sciences, Department of Applied Learning, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Social Sciences, 2022, vol. 11, issue 7, 1-17

Abstract: The dynamics that today’s society is facing require critical citizens capable of understanding the complexity of problems from their various dimensions. This work aimed to investigate the social representations that future primary school teachers have about socio-environmental problems, sustainability, purposes of socio-environmental education, and strategies to train in Global Citizenship Education and in Education for Sustainable Development. An exploratory case study was carried out, framed in an action-research approach in the classes of Social Sciences Teaching of the Primary Education Degree of two universities in Galicia (Spain): the University of A Coruña and the University of Santiago de Compostela. A quantitative and qualitative analysis was developed by applying a questionnaire to a sample of 200 students. The results showed that students focus on problems such as climate change or environmental pollution, leaving aside issues such as social inequalities, poverty, or gender issues. In addition, they have difficulties in recognizing the strategies by which teachers can provide their students with critical thinking that leads to social transformation. Significant differences were observed in some researched aspects according to the university of origin, the grade, and the gender of the students, with gender being the one that influenced the greatest number of questions.

Keywords: social sciences teaching; socio-environmental problems; Global Citizenship Education; Education for Sustainable Development; critical thinking; primary school (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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