Educational Needs in Social Education for Parents with Elementary School Children

Parents, especially those who have elementary school age children, need to know about their children’s social education and any program aimed at improving this knowledge requires an initial needs assessment. To this end, initially a group of experts were interviewed and then a sample of 300 principals, 1800 teachers, and 3600 parents in 10 provinces was given a questionnaire based on the data collected in the first part of the study. Results show that respondents expressed extreme need to know all areas of knowledge in question. Both teachers and principals prioritized the identified needs similarly, yet differently from that done by parents. Nevertheless, teachers and principals indicated that priority should be given to information on interpersonal skills, civic skills, personal skills, and recognizing children’s characteristics.