The aim of this study is to identify the perceptions of democracy of primary school students, identify the factors that affect these, and compare the results with those obtained from other countries. The research was carried out during the 2011-2012 school year with 1,667 students from the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades who were chosen from 26 cities in Turkey using the stratified sampling model. The Democracy Perception Scale was used as a data collection tool. According to the findings of the study, the democratic perceptions of primary school students differ according to their sex, what grade they are in, the education and income status of their parents, and where they live. The differences were found to be within the average of the scores of Turkey and the other 28 countries' scores where the study was conducted. It was concluded that the average score for the positive items of students who lived in Turkey was low whereas the perception of democracy scores for students in Turkey was high compared to the scores of students from the 28 other countries.

In today's globalised world, many issues have become controversial. These controversial issues affect society and the individuals who form them. It is inevitable that these topics are brought into social studies classrooms, because this learning area is profoundly related to society. Social studies teachers' behaviours, attitudes, and professional knowledge are crucial in teaching controversial issues. The goal of this study was to investigate social studies teachers' opinions and practices regarding teaching controversial issues in Turkey. The study utilised a mixed method in which both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used. The quantitative data for this study were collected from 646 social studies teachers in different cities in Turkey. The qualitative data were collected through observation of eight social studies teachers who were working in schools situated in areas at four different socioeconomic levels in the Kirsehir province. The content analysis method was used to analyse the qualitative data. The results indicated that there are differences between the teachers' opinions and their practices in teaching controversial issues. The study also found that teachers are faced with academic, professional, and emotional challenges in teaching controversial issues.

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