International Online Journal of Educational Sciences, 2016, 8 (2), 207-216 © 2016 International Online Journal of Educational Sciences (IOJES) is a publication of Educational Researches and Publications Association (ERPA) www.iojes.net International Online Journal of Educational Sciences ISSN: 1309-2707 Pre-service Teachers’ (History and Social Studies) Perceptions of Ataturk Who Will Teach Revolution History and Ataturkism Cengiz DÖNMEZ 1 , Ercenk HAMARAT 2 and Salih USLU 3 1, 2 Gazi University, Gazi Educational Faculty, Ankara, Turkey, 3 Niğde University, Educational Faculty, Niğde, Turkey ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article History: Received 21.10.2015 Received in revised form 28.11.2015 Accepted 12.12.2015 Available online 22.03.2016 The aim of the study is to investigate on candidates of social studies and history teachers who are going to be teaching Turkish Republic Revolutionary History and Ataturkism and determine their perceptions of Ataturk according to different variables (gender, department, class, type of high school which is graduated from, family income and the settlement that teacher candidates spend their life until they enter to university) The research has been done on the 633 candidate teachers who are studying at Social Studies Teaching departments of Gazi University, Niğde University, Zonguldak University and History Teaching departments of Gazi University and Niğde University. The research is done by descriptive survey method and as a data collection tool “Personal Data Form” and “Ataturk Perception Scale” is used which are developed by the researchers. The research data are analyzed by IBM SPSS 21.0 software with necessary statistical techniques. As a general result, it is established that the candidate teachers has a high point of perception and their perceptions of Ataturk highly differ by gender, department and the high school which they are graduated from and it does not show any meaningful difference by class, family income and the settlement that teacher candidates spend their life until they enter to university. © 2016 IOJES. All rights reserved Keywords: 1 Ataturk, Ataturkism, Perception, Pre-service Teacher Extended Abstract Purpose and Significance The purpose of this case is to work on candidates of social studies and history teachers who are going to be teaching about Turkish Republic Revolutionary History and Ataturkism and determine their perceptions of Ataturk according to different variables. Working on this purpose to determine the perception of candidate teachers, the variables used are gender, department, class, type of high school which is graduated from, family income and the settlement that teacher candidates spend their life until they enter to university. The potential variables which could affect the candidate teachers' perception of Ataturk are regarded while choosing the mentioned variables above. According to research voluntary basis, the research included 633 candidate teachers studying in, Gazi University: Departments of Social Studies and History Education, Niğde University: Departments of Social Studies Education and History, Zonguldak University: Departments of Social Studies Education. Method The research is done by descriptive survey method and as a data collection tool “Personal Data Form” and Ataturk Perception Scale is used which are developed by the researchers. The Personal Data Forms consist variables of gender, department, class, type of high school which is graduated from, family income 2 Corresponding author’s address: Gazi University, Gazi Educational Faculty, Department of Primary Education, 06500, Ankara, Turkey. Telephone: +903122028155 Fax: +903122028155 e-mail: ercenkhamarat@gazi.edu.tr DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15345/iojes.2016.02.017