İstenilen ya da arzu edilen sonuca ulaşmak olarak tanımlanan başarı, toplumdan topluma ya da zamana bağlı olarak değişiklik göstermekle birlikte, her toplumda ve dönemde toplum ve birey açısından önemli bir gereksinim olmuştur. 21. Yüzyıl toplumu bilgi birikiminin hızla artmasına bağlı olarak bilgi toplumu olarak nitelendirilmektedir. Bilgi toplumunu temsil edebilmenin önemli göstergeleri ise bilgiye ulaşma, bilgiyi analiz etme, sentezleme diğer bir ifadeyle bilgiyi işlevsel hale getirme olarak gösterilebilir. Dolayısıyla günümüz toplumunda öğrencilerden beklentiler önceki dönemlerden farklılık gösterdiğinden, "başarı" kavramına yüklenen anlamı da değiştirmiştir. İnsan yaşamının önemli bir bölümünün örgün eğitim kurumlarında uygulanması aşamasında kilit rolde bulunan öğretmenlerin "başarı" kavramına yükledikleri anlamın da ayrı bir önem taşıdığı söylenebilir. Çünkü eğitim-öğretim sürecinde hazırlık aşaması, öğretme-öğrenme süreci ve bu süreçte kullanılacak materyallerin seçimi, ölçme ve değerlendirme etkinlikleri gibi birçok durum öğretmenin "başarı" kavramına yükledikleri anlama göre farklı desenlenecektir. Aynı zamanda öğretmenlerin başarı kavramına yükledikleri anlam benimsedikleri eğitim felsefeleriyle de ilgilidir. Bu yönüyle sosyal bilgiler öğretmenlerinin başarı kavramına yükledikleri anlamın ortaya konulması; eğitim-öğretim sürecinde yaşanan sorunların çözümüne de katkı sağlamakla birlikte sosyal bilgiler öğretim programında benimsenen eğitim felsefesinin öğretmenler tarafından ne kadar içselleştirildiğini de ortaya koyacaktır. araya getirilerek, benzerliklerinden hareketle başlıklar altında sınıflandırılmış ve her başlığa ilişkin görüşlerin frekansı (f) gösterilmiştir. Bu işlemler iki ayrı uzman tarafından ayrı ayrı yapılmış olup daha sonra karşılaştırılmıştır. Tespit edilen farklılıklar üçüncü bir uzman görüşüne başvurularak farklılıklar giderilmiştir. Son halini alan çalışmanın uyuşum yüzdesini hesaplamak amacıyla bir uzman görüşüne daha başvurulmuştur. Bu işlem sonucunda uyuşum yüzdesi .92 olarak hesaplanmıştır. Çalışma sonunda; sosyal bilgiler öğretmenlerinin başarı kavramına yükledikleri anlam genel olarak benzerlik göstermekle birlikte önemli farklılıkların da olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Benzerlik gösteren görüşlerin daha çok esasicilik eğitim felsefesi yaklaşımına, söz konusu farklı görüşlerin ise ilerlemecilik eğitim felsefesi yaklaşıma uygun olduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Öğretmen görüşleri eğitim-öğretim sürecinde yaşanan çeşitli sorunlar için önemli ipuçları verdiğinden bu doğrultuda önerilerde bulunulmuştur

Although it changes depending on the time or the community or society, success, defined as “…accomplishing or obtaining the desired result”, has become an important requirement for societies and individuals in every society and period. The 21st century society is regarded as ‘information society’ as a result of the rapid accumulation of knowledge. The most significant indicators of being able to represent ‘an information society’ can be considered as ‘to access information’, ‘to analyze information’ and ‘to synthesize it as to make it functional’. Therefore, owing to the fact that the expectations for students in today's society are different from those in earlier periods, the meaning attributed to the concept of "success" has also changed. Given that an important part of human life is spent in formal educational institutions, the meanings attributed to the concept of "success" by teachers, who play a key role in the implementation of the curriculum, can be said to be of significant importance, too. Because, many cases such as the preparation phase, the teaching-learning process, the choice of materials to be used in teaching process and measurement and evaluation activities as parts of the teaching – learning process will be designed according to the meaning teachers’ attribute to the concept of "success". At the same time, the meaning teachers attribute to the concept of "success" is also concerned with the educational philosophy they adopted. When considered in this aspect, revealing what meanings attributed to the concept of "success" by social studies teachers will both contribute to the resolution of problems experienced in the teaching – learning process and reveal to what extent the educational philosophy adopted in the social studies curriculum is internalized by the teachers. In this study utilizing a phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research approaches, data were collected by means of a semi-structured interview form administered on a total of 13 social studies teachers, 4 women and 9 men, working in secondary schools in Siirt city center in November and December in the academic year 20142015. After the data obtained from the interviews, each lasted approximately 40 min., were transcribed and then confirmed by the interviewees, and analyzed according to descriptive analysis. Interviewees’ responses to each question were brought together, classified under headings with reference to their similarities and frequency (f) of the views expressed under each heading was presented. These procedures were separately realized by two different experts, then the differences determined by comparing each encoding were handled by reference to a third expert opinion. In order to calculate the final set’s percentage of agreement, another expert opinion was also referenced and the percentage of agreement of the research was calculated as 0.92. At the end of the research; there have been found to be significant differences while the meaning social studies teachers attribute to the concept of ‘success’ overall seem to be similar. It was revealed that opinions which share similarities are appropriate for essentialist philosophy of education while different opinions generally accord with the the progressivist educational philosophy. Since teachers’ views provide important clues to the various problems encountered in the teaching-learning process, suggestions were made in this direction Although it changes depending on the time or the community or society, success, defined as “accomplishing or obtaining the desired result”, has become an important requirement for societies and individuals in every society and period. The 21st century society is regarded as ‘information society’ as a result of the rapid accumulation of knowledge. The most significant indicators of being able to represent ‘an information society’ can be considered as ‘to access information’, ‘to analyze information’ and ‘to synthesize it as to make it functional’. Therefore, owing to the fact that the expectations for students in today's society are different from those in earlier periods, the meaning attributed to the concept of "success" has also changed. Given that an important part of human life is spent in formal educational institutions, the meanings attributed to the concept of "success" by teachers, who play a key role in the implementation of the curriculum, can be said to be of significant importance, too. Because, many cases such as the preparation phase, the teaching-learning process, the choice of materials to be used in teaching process and measurement and evaluation activities as parts of the teaching – learning process will be designed according to the meaning teachers’ attribute to the concept of "success". At the same time, the meaning teachers’ attribute to the concept of "success" is also concerned with the educational philosophy adopted. When considered in this aspect, revealing what meanings attributed to the concept of "success" by social studies teachers will both contribute to the resolution of problems experienced in the teaching – learning process and reveal to what extent the education philosophy adopted in the social studies curriculum is internalized by the teachers. The fact that meaning teachers attribute to the concept of “success” in the teaching – learning process and successful individuals’ characteristics are the same in line with the education philosophy adopted by curriculum increases the effectiveness of the program, while the differentiation of these conditions may result in failure by influencing the implementation of the program negatively. Within this context, this research, which aims to put forth the social studies teachers’ perceptions of success, may be considered to be of importance in terms of presenting a panorama of the current situation. For the purpose of the research are sought answers the following sub-problems: 1. What is success, in your opinion? Please explain. 2. In your opinion, what are the characteristics of a successful social studies teacher? Please explain. 3. In your opinion, what are the characteristics of a successful student? Please explain. 4. What are your suggestions for a successful social studies lesson? Please write. Methodology In this study utilizing a phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research approaches, data were collected by means of a semi-structured interview form. Working Group The working group is comprised of a total of 13 social studies teachers, 4 women and 9 men, working in secondary schools in Siirt city center in November and December in the academic year 2014-2015. Four teachers in the working group have 1 – 5 years of professional experience, five of them have 6 – 10 years’ experience, three have 11 – 15 years’ experience and one other participant has 16 and over years of professional experience. Interview Form, Data Collection and Analysis A semi-structured interview form of six questions, created as a result of literature survey, was presented to two educators in the field and one language expert, then the number of questions was reduced to four, with reference to experts and the interview form took its final form. Moreover, a personal information form was added in order to collect the demographic data of the participants. Before data collection, fifteen social studies teachers were interviewed; they were provided information about the purpose of the study and asked whether they wanted to participate in the working group. Two teachers did not want to participate and the study was carried out on thirteen teachers. Each participant was made an appointment at an appropriate time, and the data were collected by utilizing a semi-structured interview form prepared. Data obtained from the interviews, lasted approximately 40 min., were transcribed and analyzed in accordance with the descriptive analysis after the transcriptions were confirmed by the interviewees. Interviewees’ responses to each question were brought together, classified under headings with reference to their similarities and frequency (f) of the views expressed under each heading was presented. Validity and Reliability Research data were separately coded by two different experts, then the differences determined by comparing each encoding were handled by reference to a third expert opinion. In order to calculate the final set’s reliability, another expert opinion was also referenced. The reliability of the data obtained was calculated using Miles and Hubermann’s (1994) “Reliability= ((number of agreements):(total number of agreements+Disagreements))x 100” formula. It was observed that the expert consulted within the scope of reliability had correlated 13 views in sub-themes with different headings. In the reliability analysis made in this direction, the reliability of the research was calculated as 0.92. Findings Social studies teachers’ responses for the question ‘What is success, in your opinion? Please explain.’ were grouped under five headings, namely taking high marks, self-realization, outscoring other individuals, achieving goals and being knowledgeable. Under the headings ‘taking high marks’, ‘outscoring other individuals’, ‘achieving goals’ and ‘being knowledgeable’ are located result-centered and competition-oriented responses. In responses classified under the heading ‘self-realization’, success is described as the maximum road an individual can make when s/he realizes her/his own potential and level of readiness. 52 views were expressed by the social studies teacher to question “In your opinion, what are the characteristics of a successful social studies teacher?”; these views were grouped under nine headings. These titles are ‘having content knowledge’, “being able to use the materials effectively’, ‘having classroom management skills’, ‘using appropriate teaching methods’, ‘having a high level of general knowledge’, ‘having ability to communicate effectively, ‘having full knowledge of the modern teaching approaches’, ‘being able to follow current events’ and ‘having a sense of responsibility’ respectively. Responses categorized under these headings are in general about pedagogical content knowledge, educational sciences, the necessary skills required and general knowledge. A total of 57 responses social studies teachers provided to the question “In your opinion, what are the characteristics of a successful student? Please explain.” were classified under nine headings. These headings are ‘His/Her scores are high’, ‘He/She studies in a planned way continuously’, ‘He/She actively participates in lessons’, ‘He/She makes appropriate comments’, ‘He/She is respectful’, ‘He/She also follows different sources’, ‘He/She is open to cooperation’, ‘He/She is a critical thinker’ and ‘He/She comes to classroom on time’. Responses under these headings make an emphasis on student’s responsibilities, skills and values they are required to have. Social studies teachers reported a total of 49 views related to the question “What are your suggestions for a successful social studies lesson?” under headings ‘Quality should be paid attention during teacher training process’, ‘Class sizes should be kept less’, ‘The subjects should be taught by utilizing supporting materials’, ‘Different activities according to students’ characteristics should be given place’, ‘Classrooms should have technological equipment’, ‘The subjects should be concretized and explained’, ‘Topics should be linked to real everyday life’, ‘The subjects should not be categorized as ‘important’ and ‘unimportant’ and ‘Alternative measurement and assessment should be given importance’, respectively. When the views under these headings are examined, participants emphasize teacher training process in higher education, the technological equipment in classrooms and the unsatisfactoriness of investments in education indirectly, although opinions regarding teachers appear to be at the forefront. Discussion When social studies teachers’ responses about the question ‘What is success, in your opinion?’ are analyzed, it may be considered as a negative situation that ten views are result-centered and competitionoriented (taking high marks, outscoring other individuals, achieving goals and being knowledgeable), although the fact that three of their responses about self-realization seem to be something positive. Because, the teachers’ responses seem to be different from the approach in the curriculum while the curriculum prepared in accordance with modern teaching approaches offers students the opportunities to progress within their potentials and proposes alternative assessment approaches in this direction. Social studies teachers expressed 12 opinions regarding content knowledge in general, 29 opinions related to educational sciences (‘being able to use the materials effectively’, ‘having classroom management skills’, ‘using appropriate teaching methods’, and ‘having a ‘having full knowledge of the modern teaching approaches’), 6 opinions under 3 headings (‘having ability to communicate effectively’, ‘being able to follow current events’ and ‘having a sense of responsibility’) and 5 opinions about general knowledge in their responses given with respect to the characteristics of a successful teacher. Considering that teachers are the most important factor affecting the quality of education since they have a key role in the application process, it can be expressed that there exists a direct relationship between the nature of the educational activities, the quality of the people educated and the teacher quality. Within this context, it is important to reveal the perceptions regarding a successful teacher. When studies in national and international literature are reviewed and analyzed, a teacher must meet the following specifications in order to be qualified as ‘successful’ (Imig & Imig, 2007; Celikten, Sanal &Yeni, 2005; Erdem, Gezer & Cokadar, 2005; Schlechty, 2005; Acikgoz, 2003; Bayrak, 2001; Cobb, 1999): Content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, ‘entering the classroom as prepared’, ‘using native language correctly and effectively’, having a variety of skills (communication, empathy, respect and responsibility), ‘being resistant to stressful school environment’, ‘being planned and scheduled’, ‘being democratic’, ‘following the technology closely’, ‘having an actor identity’, ‘having national culture and values’, ‘being consistent’ and ‘having a positive attitude towards the profession itself’. When social studies teachers’ responses and teacher characteristics specified in studies in literature are compared, it is worth noticing that social studies teachers have made an emphasis on content knowledge, educational sciences and general knowledge. However, the facts that they have responses regarding the skills only under 3 headings and only 5 opinions regarding general knowledge, and they do not express opinions about the other characteristics studied in literature can be considered and interpreted as something negative. It is interesting to note that majority of the responses related to characteristics of a successful student are about the students’ responsibilities. Demirtas and Cinar (2004) obtained the similar findings in their study. Findings indicating that responses regarding the skills students are required to have are about 2 headings (making appropriate comments and critical thinking) and opinions regarding values are grouped under 1 heading (‘being open to cooperation’) can be interpreted positively in terms of their emphasis on skills and values. However, because there are responses given under only three headings, these findings may also be regarded as something negative. Considering the Social Studies Courses Curriculum, which came into effect in 2005- 2006 academic year, findings related to only three out of 15 skills and 20 values specified in the curriculum may be negatively interpreted. This situation may also be handled as an indicator of shortcomings and problems about teaching skills and values in educational process. Headings created based upon the opinions expressed with respect to a successful social studies lesson can be grouped as ‘About Teachers’, About Higher Education, and ‘About Management’. Opinions regarding teachers and higher education can be associated with each other. Because they will also fulfill the characteristics mentioned in the titles classified in terms of social studies courses in their professional lives, prospective teachers qualitatively educated in higher education are the most important step in this process. Yaylaci (2013), in his study, emphasized the importance of teachers in the teaching - learning process and purported that teachers are required to be open to improvement and to be provided with opportunities and facilities to improve themselves in order to succeed. Another remarkable point here in the social studies teachers' opinions are responses regarding the discrimination of the subjects as ‘important’ and ‘unimportant’” and alternative measurement and assessment. These opinions actually offer us important information about the failing aspects. Moreover educational activities in accordance with the new curriculum are expected to eliminate such kind of problems. The finding that the teachers have expressed their opinion in this direction indicates that the teaching approach adopted by new curriculum is not fully internalized by teachers as well. Tay (2013) found out in his study that social studies teachers could not define most of the alternative evaluation types (group evaluation, observation, diagnostic branched tree, word association tests, check lists, interviews, concept maps etc.) and mentioned that it may be due to the fact that these methods are either used less or not used at all. Aykac and Basar (2005) concluded in their research that the assessment stage is associated with majority of the problems experienced in the process of implementation of the new curriculum. In addition, responses regarding the technological equipment in classrooms and small class sizes are of great importance to reveal about the current situation. Guclu (2002) found out in a research that crowded classrooms negatively affect teaching – learning process. Akkoyunlu and Kurbanoglu (2003) concluded in their study that teachers are expected to train individuals who can access information by using the technology. Akbaba-Altun and Cakan (2008) and Dursun and Dede (2004) revealed in their studies that technologically inadequate classrooms and crowded classes have a negative impact on students’ academic achievement. When social studies teachers’ responses to the sub-problems prepared in line with the aims of this study are considered as a whole, even if a majority of opinions are related to essentialism, it can be said that there also exist some opinions regarding progressivist educational philosophy. It can be inferred that Social Studies Courses Curriculum, which came into effect in 2005, was prepared in accordance with the progressivist educational philosophy and teachers who adopted the progressivist educational philosophy are not trained in higher education, when the professional experience of the participants is taken overall.Indeed, Darling-Hammond (2008) advocated that teacher training institutions had failed to meet the needs, the applications were inadequate and therefore they failed to prepare individuals for professional life. Essentialist philosophy of education advocates that people are not innately equipped with any kind of information. According to essentialism emphasizing that information is subsequently obtained by induction, the human nature is independent, regardless of their individual, cultural and historical structures. An effective internalization of the subject area constitutes the very essence of the educational process, and abstract thinking in this process, exercises and memorization methods should be used in this process (Basaran, 2007; Holma, 2007; Sonmez, 2005; Erisen, 2004). According to progressivism, however, education is not a preparation for future; it is life itself. All the real problems of life should be reflected in the educational environment; thus, any kind of courses/lessons representing all life should also be included in the program (Dewey, 2008). Progressivists make an emphasis on individual differences, and they argue that education should be organized according to these individual differences (Ergun, 2014; Toprakci, 2005; Erden, 2004; Demirel, 2003). Considering that progressivist philosophy of education has been adopted in new curriculum since 2005, it can be inferred that the majority of teachers interviewed have not adapted to change or could not succeed that. Van Dariel, Bulte and Verloop (2007) noted that the educational philosophies adopted by teachers are shaped over many years and this condition results in a resistance to change.Based on the research findings, the following recommendations were developed:  If the Faculties of Education constantly update themselves by considering the needs of the age, this can contribute to the training of qualified teachers.  Because providing teachers in-service training regarding modern education philosophies adopted will provide a change of their perception of success, it may give positive results. Hence, it can be obtained more effective results in a variety of perspectives such as preparation for the teaching-learning process, the organization of educational contexts and assessment approaches.  Constructivist approach both considers basic skills and attaches great importance to thinking, comprehension, link building, reasoning, adapting information to new situations and values education. In this respect, it can be carried out research focusing on the skills and values the social studies teachers have or should have.  The maximum capacity of the classroom size can be determined and a standard can be set in institutions affiliated to the Ministry of National Education.  Providing classrooms with appropriate technological equipment may give positive results in order to make students fulfill the expectations in technological sense.