Skill-based reform or rhetoric? Analysing the citizenship curriculum in Türkiye with the ICCS framework

Highlights: – The first systematic ICCS-2022–based mapping of Türkiye’s 2024 Social Studies curriculum. – Detailed and auditable coding of the text to ICCS’s dimensions and 12 sub-dimensions. – Strong emphasis on knowledge and reasoning, limited representation of attitudes and participation. – A more “personally responsible” citizen profile than participatory/justice-oriented models. – Actionable policy/practice proposals: action civics, authentic participation tasks, and assessment rubrics. Purpose: This study addresses the gap created by Türkiye’s non-participation in International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) cycles by determining the extent to which the 2024 Social Studies curriculum aligns with the ICCS 2022 Assessment Framework across the content, cognitive, attitudes, and engagement dimensions. It interprets alignment/misalignment patterns through the lenses of critical, democratic, and global citizenship and the theme of national ideological continuity. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative documentary analysis and qualitative textual analysis of the Social Studies curriculum for grades 4–7 was conducted. The was systematically coded to ICCS’s 12 sub-dimensions. Findings: The curriculum prioritises cognitive and content dimensions—especially reasoning and applying—while attitudes and engagement are comparatively underrepresented. Research limitations/implications: Findings are limited to 2024 curriculum, the school grades 4–7 and the ICCS framework. Classroom enactment, teacher choices, and students’ lived experiences were not observed. Practical implications: Mapping Türkiye’s Social Studies curriculum to ICCS reveals strength on cognitive and content dimensions and weakness on attitudes/engagement dimension, indicating the need to more visibly integrate transformative democratic citizenship into the curriculum (e.g., action civics, authentic participation tasks, assessment rubrics that capture participation dispositions and value-based decision-making).