Systematic Analysis of Studies on Professional Competencies, 21st Century Skills and Literacy Skills by Social Studies Teachers and Prospective Teachers

Abstract

Teacher competencies are defined as the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to fulfil the teaching profession effectively and efficiently. Teachers' possession of these basic competencies is seen as one of the key factors for increasing students' achievement and ensuring their personal development. In addition, to adapt to the changing conditions of the 21^st century, several significant businesspeople, politicians and educational experts of the period have gathered and put forward studies on the skills that individuals should gain. In order to effectively implement these skills, it is of great importance that teachers have the appropriate competencies. The alignment of teacher competencies with the skills set forth in the P21 framework is necessary to increase the level of success in education. In recent years, literacy skills have gained importance and literacy fields have diversified. Due to this importance, many literacy skills have been included in curricula. In the acquisition of these skills by students, it is emphasized that teachers should have these skills first. From this point of view, this study aims to determine how the researches on social studies teacher competencies are distributed according to research approach, method, sample/study group, research year and type and in which competency area they are concentrated. In line with this purpose, it is thought that this study will provide a road map for future research on social studies teacher competencies, 21^st century skills partnership framework and field literacy skills. In accordance with the purpose of the study, 190 studies that were reviewed in “YÖK Thesis” and “TR Index” databases, using 36 key concepts, and met the inclusion criteria were included in the review. According to the results of this research using the systematic literature review method, it was determined that the studies were mostly conducted by prospective social studies teachers, most of which were master's theses, that there was an increase in the number of studies after 2019, and that they were concentrated in the fields of content knowledge, field education knowledge, information and communication technologies literacy, and digital literacy.