An Investigation of Secondary School Students' Perspectives on the Value of Justice in Social Studies Education Through the Principle of Versus

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigation the perspectives of secondary school 7th grade students on the value of justice through the principle of versus. In order to achieve this aim, phenomenology research design was used. Data were collected through semi-structured interview form and various documents (poetry and drawing). Participants consisted of 8 students selected from 7th grade students studying at a public secondary school in the 2020-2021 academic year. The data were analyzed in terms of versus coding, which identifiy mutually exclusive, opposite word pairs. According to the students, it has been determined that the unchanging essences/structures of the justice value are “meeting the need for safety”. In this context, it was concluded that the students took refuge in the value of justice as a guarantee of seeing their future safe. Therefore, it can be said that the students think that in the absence of the value of justice may affect fulfilling their safety needs. In addition, according to the students, it was concluded that the value of justice enables to build “social order versus social disorder”. According to the students, the value of justice is described as follows: “Justice is a value consisting of fairness, sovereignty of the state and social unity in order to meet the safety needs of the society. The ultimate aim of ensuring justice; is the construction of social order so that social turmoil does not occur.”