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European Journal of Education Studies ISSN: 2501 - 1111 ISSN-L: 2501 - 1111 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu Volume 3 │Issue 11│2017 doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1064918 THE EXAMINATION OF THE PERCEPTIONS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS ON SOCIAL INTEGRATIONi Habib Özgan, Engin Işii Dr., Associate Professor, Education Faculty, Educational Sciences, 1 Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Turkey PhD Student, Education Faculty, Educational Sciences, 2 Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Turkey Abstract: The study was conducted to determine the secondary school students' perceptions on social integration and examine them in terms of certain variables. It was a descriptive study with survey methodology. The universe of the research consisted of the students studying at secondary schools in Mardin city center during 2016-2017 educational year. The sample included four distinctive schools and the participants were randomly selected among İmam Hatip High Schools, Anatolian High Schools, Science High Schools and Vocational and Technical High Schools. The data from 1035 students were collected from the randomly selected branches of the grade levels in the aforementioned schools. The data on the social integration levels of high school students were collected through the "Social Integration Scale". The research results indicated that the secondary school students had moderate level of perceptions with regard to social integration and the students’ levels of social integration were in direct proportion with the educational quality and academic achievement of the students. Keywords: social integration, secondary education, student, youth, high school 1. Introduction Education is a chain of planned actions that helps to develop certain social processes or the behaviors of people that are effective in the development and socialization of i This paper was presented at the 12th International Congress on Educational Administration in May 2017. Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 374 Habib Özgan, Engin Iş THE EXAMINATION OF THE PERCEPTIONS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS ON SOCIAL INTEGRATION individuals. The function of education is to provide social continuity through transferring the existing cultural values to new generations and to try to transform the behaviors of a child as a biological entity into a social entity (Dinçer, 2003). The educational systems are obliged to prepare the people they address to integrate with their society Gişi et al., . The development of the individual and the continuity of the society depend on each other. The human nature can only flourish in the society. The individual and the community interact and depend on each other (Maclver and Page, 1969). The society has to impose and inoculate the common cultural values to every single individual to be able to sustain its very existence. It is not probable for the individual to maintain a life outside of the society. The interruption of socialization prevents the development of adult behaviors (Türkkahraman, 2009). The people are born and gain their social characteristics within social groups. The individuals also adopt knowledge and values within these groups that they need to live in the society. They become the members of a society as long as they embrace the accepted values and the existing information. In this context, being the member of a society is regarded as socialization. Besides, the socialization process makes it easier for the newborns to acknowledge the available culture and adapt to the existing environment. It is a process starting with the birth of man to the death (Güney, 2008). Above all, man is a social entity and social life is the outcome of his intellect and ability to think. The individual, on the one hand, follows the biological and bodily growth processes, on the other hand integrates with the norms of the society and becomes a member of the community in which he lives. As a result, human personality is shaped in the process of socialization (Arslantürk and Amman 9 . Social integration is the fundamental process in acquiring someone’s personality. Human personality and society are inextricably linked to each other. The individual cannot be considered separate from the society and culture in which he lives; likewise, society and culture maintains the presence of reality and survive in the behaviors of individuals. Social values come into prominence in the formation of this reality Beşirli, 2016). While individuals are affected by society, they continue to influence it and try to become a member of the community they live in. Throughout their lives, they learn and embrace the elements of their society such as culture and values. From this point of view, it can be inferred that socialization involves the period of time the individual has spent to become a member of the society Erkal, ; Şen, . Socialization refers to the knowledge of the individual with regard to the requisites of the available culture, organization of society, division of labor, production and consumption patterns of the society in which he lives and to be in the effort of participating in these kinds of European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 11│ 2017 375 Habib Özgan, Engin Iş THE EXAMINATION OF THE PERCEPTIONS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS ON SOCIAL INTEGRATION processes through acquiring various knowledge, skills, values and behaviors (Özpolat, 2009). As the human being is a social entity, he must naturally live in a society. An individual’s integration into society, identity development and respect for the societal values result from social integration. Although the process of socialization sometimes involves conflict, it primarily refers to the absorption of the society's expectations by the members and putting them into practice. In this regard, the individual will be accepted and approved by the society when carrying out the attitudes, behaviors and beliefs in social life in parallel with the community expectations. The sound adaptation to society will also enable the young to integrate constructively with the other people and social values and to behave in accordance with the community expectations. The individuals' personal and social adaptation are linked to the community they live in. Therefore, family structure, circle of friends, school environment and television are the main factors that influence social adaptation of an adolescent Avcı, ). The individual’s acceptance of social norms, values, beliefs, habits, tendencies and behavioral models of social life as a social entity takes place through politics, education, economy, culture and the other social institutions within the process of socialization Dursun, ; İçli, . The relationship network in the social environment is formed through various social institutions. The most important tasks of the institutions established in the society are to organize social relations and to maintain the existence and the continuity of the society (Aslan, 2001). Education is regarded as one of the most effective means of political, social and cultural integration and change management (MEB, 2005). The social integration of the students takes place through the family and the educational processes in which they learn the basic expectations of other people related to themselves. Education contributes to social harmony only when it is applied for the purpose of integration to the values and the life style of the society in which the individual lives. While conveying the community’s existing values, the primary function of educational institutions is to prepare and educate individuals who are capable of meeting the ideals and expectations for the future of the society The balance created between the actual norms and values of the society and those desired to be acquired through education is essential for the society in terms of stability and organization. That’s why the educational practices that have societal bases will eventually cultivate the people who will create and sustain the existence of the society. Therefore, in determining the aims of education in a society, individual and socio-cultural values should be considered and social competence should be taken into account (Tezcan, 1997). Consequently, educational institutions not only aim at transferring the cultural heritage from European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 11│ 2017 376 Habib Özgan, Engin Iş THE EXAMINATION OF THE PERCEPTIONS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS ON SOCIAL INTEGRATION generation to generation with the programs they implement, but they also help the individuals in the society to adapt to local and global happenings, new forms of behavior, changes and developments in science, art, technology, economy, sports, and the other areas as well as universal values and approaches. In other words, education takes the responsibilities of producing new information, disseminating information, conveying the cultural values of society to new generations, updating and improving the relevant information, inoculating democratic knowledge, attitudes and understanding to the individuals and providing them with knowledge and skills required by the society, supplying and facilitating the integration of the individual to the society and to the world. It can also be indicated that it is the responsibility of education to educate individuals who will be able to adapt to changes and then succeed in the renewed tasks and responsibilities Şen, . Society and education are two complementary concepts. All the societies need educational institutions to survive. Education is the most important social institution created by society in order to maintain the regular societal life (Aslan, 2001). However, the education of the youth not only comprises the training of school and family institutions, but it also includes education with its surroundings and widespread socialization process (Duverger, 1998). Though all the social institutions influence the socialization of the individual, it is mainly under the control of family, school, circle of friends, business circle, various religious, intellectual, cultural and professional groups due to their being the primary sources of social environment and information-culture (Özpolat, 2010). In particular, the school is of great importance as a continual socialization resource throughout the individual’s life. From the beginning of childhood, the schools are regarded as one of the most important social resources Pianta, 99 . The fulfillment of the schools’ educational objectives effectively is vital in terms of sound individuals and sound societies. The school, after the family, is an important institution in the socialization of children and adolescents. In this sense, it has significant functions in the orientation of young people to future professions appropriate to their intelligence and abilities, in the transference of social values from generation to generation, in obtaining a status within the social order and in child and youth care and so on Avcı, Binbaşıoğlu . Similarly, 99 , who points out that the school is the place where the social characteristics that the child acquires in the family are developed more systematically, indicates that the child learns from the social activities established in the school to get along well with others, to express his emotions and thoughts, to respect the others’ point of views, make others bow to his ideas, to respect the decisions of the community and to behave accordingly. In this regard, the school is a small example of social life, a European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 11│ 2017 377 Habib Özgan, Engin Iş THE EXAMINATION OF THE PERCEPTIONS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS ON SOCIAL INTEGRATION place where the skills of new generations are developed in a certain order, and an institution that helps the socialization of young people together with the family Avcı, 2006). While the school helps young people to develop and integrate to the society, it may also lead to divergent behaviors by adversely affecting the development of young people for several reasons. The inadequate physical conditions in schools together with the negative attitudes and behaviors arise from the deficiencies caused by the personality of teachers and their socio-economic level may cause students to lose their motivation towards the school, to escape from school, to exhibit actions with adjustment and behavior disorders towards school supplies, friends or teachers Yör(koğlu, 999 . If the individual cannot maintain the social integration process properly, the youth can create, instead of high ideals, patterns such as frustration, aggressiveness and violence together with the desperate psychological-spiritual structures and introverted characteristics (Kasatura, 1998). Many studies have been conducted on the students studying at secondary education institutions in Turkey. Some of them addressed the youth from social aspects such as educational status and working conditions, and some investigated the relationship between adolescents' personal, social and familial characteristics and selfacceptance levels. It can be argued that there are very few studies on the social integration perceptions of the students studying at secondary education institutions in Turkey. The determination of students' perceptions towards social integration is considered to contribute significantly to the development of social integration policies and educational projects to be implemented for secondary students. This study was conducted to determine whether the social integration perceptions of secondary school students differed in terms of certain variables. In line with this objective, the following questions were sought: 1. What are the social integration perceptions of secondary school students? 2. Are there meaningful differences between the secondary students’ perceptions on normative, national, social-environmental, local, familial and educational integration? 3. Are there meaningful differences between secondary school students' perceptions of social integration according to the variables of the type of school, grade level, academic achievement and gender? For viewing / downloading the full article, please access the following link: https://oapub.org/edu/index.php/ejes/article/view/1212 European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 11│ 2017 378