Turkey’s Ideological Transformation in Citizenship Education: Teachers’ Sense-Making of the New Curriculum Reform

Recent global developments have prompted significant transformations in citizenship education, challenging nation-states to redefine curricular priorities. This study critically examines how social studies teachers in Türkiye interpret and implement the citizenship component of the 2024 “Turkish Century Education Model” curriculum. Drawing on twenty in-depth interviews and supplementary classroom observations, the research explores the interplay between individual cognition and contextual contingencies in shaping teachers’ responses to curricular reform. Findings reveal four distinct sense-making patterns: assimilation, adaptation, tolerance, and distancing. While some teachers integrate the reform into preexisting pedagogical routines, others engage with it superficially, with limited uptake of pluralistic or critical perspectives. The study also points out important challenges, like poor facilities, bad sharing of curriculum information, and the presence of dominant ideas, which together create uncertainty and lower motivation for teachers. By interrogating the ideological underpinnings of curriculum reform, the study contributes to critical debates about the role of citizenship education in politically polarized contexts.