Operationalizing Social Sustainability in Curricular Reform: A Document Analysis of Textbooks in the Turkey Century Education Model

Abstract

As the global learning environment increasingly aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), social sustainability, often described as the missing pillar of development, has gained a more central position in national education agendas. However, these global tendencies do not translate directly into local curricula, as sustainability constitutes a multidimensional framework shaped by contextual conditions, cultural negotiations, and policy-oriented discussions. This study presents an empirical analysis of the conceptualization of social sustainability within the framework of the Turkey Century Education Model (Türkiye Yüzyılı Maarif Modeli), introduced as part of a curriculum redesign in Turkey in 2024. Turkish Language and Literature textbooks used in Grades 9 and 10 are analyzed through Critical Document Analysis (CDA). A hybrid pedagogical model is developed by integrating the Virtue–Value–Action curriculum framework with the tripartite sustainability model formulated by Vallance et al. The findings indicate that Bridge Sustainability is evident through conceptual tools and performance-based activities promoting active and responsible citizenship. In contrast, Development Sustainability remains limited, particularly regarding gender equity and inclusive practices. Cultural continuity is prioritized over structural accommodation within the curriculum. Overall, the results suggest that the Turkey Century Education Model prioritizes cultural continuity while engaging with internationally valued competencies.

1. Introduction

Recent discussions on sustainable development in education have tended to focus primarily on environmental protection and economic viability, whereas the social dimensions of human life have received comparatively limited and unsystematic attention. An ecologically sound yet socially fragmented, divided or unequal society cannot be regarded as fully sustainable [1]. Social sustainability, therefore, has moved beyond being a marginal or progressive issue and has come to occupy a central position in policy discussions related to international development and education agendas [2]. Social sustainability is defined as the capacity of a society to maintain social capital, encourage equality, and transmit consistent value structures to future generations. Recent studies in sustainability highlight that sustainability should be perceived as a multidimensional framework in which the social, cultural, and normative aspects of sustainability overlap, not stand alone [3]. This is because sustainability is a concept that has qualitative aspects of everyday life, including the manner in which society addresses the needs of individuals deemed as vulnerable, defines gender roles and shapes the boundaries of citizenship [4].

In this regard, education is not only a tool for acquiring skills, but it also serves as a main social institution where the vision of a sustainable society is articulated, debated, and codified [5]. Within sustainability-oriented educational paradigms, learning is increasingly understood as a reflexive and socially responsive process [6]. Yet, the introduction of sustainability to the national education systems is naturally shaped by the contextual as well as policy-related concerns. As is noted by Michael Apple [7], curriculum reform usually mirrors expansionary social issues, desires, and geopolitical realities. Thus, curricula do not serve as an indifferent repository of knowledge but rather as sites where various kinds of knowledge are negotiated and privileged. This is specifically evident in Turkey, where educational change has traditionally oscillated between modernization and the continuity of long-standing traditions. In that sense, educational novelties in Turkey have been, more broadly, the result of the endeavors to reconcile the global reform discourses with the national educational support [8]. The introduction of the Turkey Century Education Model in 2024 can also be viewed as a significant event [9].

This reform is also notable because it coincides with the hundred-year anniversary of the Republic of Turkey and the reassessment of priorities within education in the international context. Compared to constructivist reforms of 2005, in which emphasis was on making education more student-focused and focused on cognitive skills as part of the EU harmonization process, the present model puts more focus on values education. This model is meant to produce a generation that can compete in the global knowledge economy and also one that would be defined by a system of national values. This raises the question of whether or not a curriculum can maintain tradition-oriented value frameworks while also encouraging digital literacy and critical thinking.

In this regard, this study aims to discuss Turkish Language and Literature textbooks used in secondary schools that hold a prominent place in the process of teaching national identity in the Turkish education system. These textbooks are perceived as strong cultural texts that contribute to the formation of national narratives [10]. Unlike other subject areas like history or social studies, which mainly involve factual knowledge, literature education engages learners with the sensory aspects of narrative (story), symbolism and meaning-making. Through literary characters, plot lines, and forms of aesthetics, literature textbooks provide the student with implicit patterns of social roles, moral judgements, and the sense of collective identity as represented in literary texts. Thus, Turkish Language and Literature textbooks are a rather appropriate corpus to consider the ways the principles of social sustainability, including inclusivity, equality and citizenship, are narratively constructed and taught. These textbooks, therefore, serve to define belonging, normative values and socially approved action.

Despite the increasing number of studies on environmental education in Turkey, there remains limited research examining how recently published textbooks (after 2023) incorporate the principles of social sustainability [11,12]. To address this gap, this study will conduct an extensive analysis of 9th- and 10th-grade textbooks to investigate the extent to which the Turkey Century Education Model advocates an inclusive and equitable orientation to social progress in the context of a modern sustainability model.

To this end, the study contributes to the literature in three ways. It theorizes social sustainability as variable and context sensitive, rather than a defined or universal system, but as nationally defined value systems and curriculum priorities. Using the triadic model of sustainability presented by Vallance et al. in relation to literature textbooks, this study shifts sustainability research away from its prevailing environmentalist orientation and presents the conceptualization of social sustainability in terms of narrative, representation, and pedagogical design. On the methodological level, this study proposes a theoretically informed approach to analyzing literature textbooks as cultural and pedagogical artefacts using a Critical Document Analysis complemented by the sustainability theory. Through this approach, a transferable analytic paradigm of future versions of curriculum research is offered in other national settings.

In addition, the given research is among the initial empirical evaluations to show how recent curriculum reforms in Turkey embody inclusivity, participation, and cultural continuity in the context of a sustainability-driven educational vision via textbooks published after 2023, with an emphasis on the Turkey Century Education Model.

2. Conceptual and Contextual Framework

To situate the present study within the broader academic discourse, this section reviews key approaches to social sustainability in educational research, traces their evolution from global frameworks to local applications, and contextualizes the Turkish case historically.

2.1. International Perspectives on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

At the global scale, the conceptual and pedagogical development of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has advanced significantly following the UN Decade of ESD (2005–2014), which marked a pivotal shift in conceptualizing sustainability as an educational responsibility beyond environmental awareness, encompassing social and ethical aspects as well [2]. Initial studies in sustainability education focused primarily on ecological literacy with special attention to the way the issues of climate change, biodiversity, and pollution were taught, using textbooks and curriculum resources.

Recent scholarship, however, has expressed growing concern with the social component of sustainability. Within the sociolinguistic frame, schooling is not merely a site where knowledge is transmitted, but also where identities of learners and types of engagement in the social world are constructed [13]. Wals [14] highlights that sustainability takes place when there is a transition to transformative pedagogical methods that support critical thinking by involving learners in the structural roots of unsustainable social behaviors such as inequality and consumerism.

Within this evolving perspective, education has been seen to be increasingly correlated with wider discussion of democratic engagement and citizenship. Westheimer and Kahne [15] add that sustainability-oriented educational practices usually tend to favor models of personally responsible citizenship occupation, whereas providing less significant engagement to justice-oriented or critically participatory kinds of engagement. This difference has received critical currency with respect to attitudes towards how student agency and social responsibility are framed in the curricula and teaching material.

Giroux [16] and Pinar [17] have also expressed concerns about the growing tendency of turning the term sustainability into a commodity in the market-based education systems. In this sense, sustainability education can be constrained to technical and economic expertise, thereby curtailing its association with further expanses such as social justice and participatory democracy. This tension between skill-based and justice-based understandings of sustainability offers a significant analytical context in understanding national curriculum reform, as is the case in Turkey.

2.2. Historical Development of Turkish Curricula (1924–2024)

To gain insights into the modern reforms of curriculum in Turkey, it is necessary to discuss a historical overview of the national education program’s development. The curriculum has traditionally been used as an instrument that defines social traditions and educational priorities since the foundation of the Republic in 1923. In this regard, education policy in Turkey has been systematically attributed to higher contexts of national identity construction [18]. The initial years of the Republic (1923–1950) represented a period of nation-building and modernization, during which the contents of the curriculum were based on the standardization of national identity [19].

The curriculum discourse of the post-1980 period was largely characterized by attempts to find a compromise between the national identity paradigms and the value-based reference to the culture with a view to promoting social unity. However, in 2005, there was a major shift in pedagogy when the Ministry of National Education (MEB) introduced a constructivist curriculum following harmonization measures in the European Union [20]. This reform emphasized competencies, active participation and student-centered learning as opposed to rote learning. Nevertheless, Aksit [20] and Somel and Altan [21] have indicated that such reforms are also aligned with market-oriented education policies, which remain connected to traditional institutional structures.

Following the curriculum revisions of 2018 and 2024, educational priorities are reorganized once again. While the discussion of competencies—supported by global assessment frameworks like PISA and STEM initiatives—continued, they were increasingly complemented by a focus on value orientations conceptualized nationally. In the curve of these tendencies, the Turkey Century Education Model can be considered a synthesis of these trends, aiming to cultivate technologically proficient citizens within locally grounded cultural frameworks [9].

2.3. Research Gap in Studies on Literature Textbooks

Curriculum research in Turkey has been extensively influenced by studies on values education, and there has been a consistent increase in the number of publications examining the representation of specific values, such as patriotism or moral responsibility, in education resources. However, the majority of these studies have been descriptive or normative and have had limited depth to accommodate much more sociological or critical insight [22]. Since the 2010s [23,24], educational policy frameworks have placed greater focus on value-related dimensions of the curriculum. Nevertheless, few studies have ever attempted to look at literature textbooks from a social sustainability perspective.

The existing literature on sustainability in relation to Turkish textbooks has largely focused on ecological consciousness, foregrounding environmental issues that are often approached from biological or geographical perspectives [11], rather than theoretical concerns such as social equality and inclusiveness [12]. In addition, research examining teacher attitudes towards curriculum reforms [25,26] suggests a recurring challenge in balancing the policy-level aspirations with classroom-level practices.

Despite these contributions, a substantial research gap remains in sociologically based analyses of literature textbooks as sites where social sustainability principles are encoded and negotiated [27,28]. In order to address this gap, the present study applies a social sustainability framework to Turkish Language and Literature textbooks and examines how curriculum narratives intersect with issues of inclusivity, equality, and cultural continuity within sustainability-driven educational reform.

3. Theoretical Framework

The philosophical debates of Turkish education have long drawn attention to an ongoing tension between the demands of modernization and the preservation of the culture as the hallmark of the system [29]. In line with this, this research study is grounded in a multilayered theoretical framework where the sociological views of education are integrated with the concept of sustainability theory. It examines the interactions of curriculum orientation, organization of knowledge and the sustainability concept, and how they are correlated in designing the format and objective of the currently implemented curriculum.

3.1. Social Sustainability as a Contested Concept

Social sustainability refers to a constructive phenomenon, which is contextual, dynamic, and variously interpreted in scholarly and policy discourses. This paper adopts the conceptual framework proposed by Vallance, Perkins and Dixon [1] to reduce conceptual ambiguities. It conceptualizes social sustainability through three interrelated dimensions: Development Sustainability, Bridge Sustainability, and Maintenance Sustainability. This framework provides the analytical basis for examining how different dimensions of social sustainability are represented in the analyzed textbooks.

The framework, proposed by Vallance et al. [1], was selected for two main reasons. First, it conceptualizes social sustainability as a multidimensional phenomenon that integrates development-oriented concerns, cultural continuity, and participatory social practices. This multidimensional perspective makes the framework particularly suitable for the analysis of curriculum materials in which values, identities, and pedagogical practices intersect. Second, the tripartite structure of Development, Bridge, and Maintenance Sustainability provides an operational structure for qualitative coding of textual and visual representations in educational materials. For these reasons, the Vallance framework offers a theoretically grounded and analytically applicable model for analyzing the representation of social sustainability in textbooks.

The first dimension, Development Sustainability, covers both the satisfaction of material needs and the construction of social capital within society. This dimension can be transformed into the questions of representation and equity in educational contexts, especially the issue of whether the curriculum presents equal symbolic and cultural assets to the representatives of the different social groups. For instance, systematic underrepresentation of women, disabled individuals or minority groups in textbooks may result in symbolic marginalization and restrict equal participation in educational discourse [27].

Bridge Sustainability, the second dimension, focuses on aligning social practice with higher environmental and social ambitions. In a pedagogical setting, it raises questions as to how far a learning environment encourages participatory types of interactions as opposed to limited or passive types of learning environments. This perspective is based on the idea of resilient learners, implying that such a learner should not only be informed but also capable of translating knowledge into socially and environmentally responsible action.

Maintenance Sustainability is the third dimension, which denotes the sustenance of the social and cultural practices, traditions and values. On this point, cultural continuity may be regarded as part of sustainability, especially in cases where social cohesion is threatened by rapid globalization. As posited by Eizenberg and Jabareen [30], cultural continuity can be viewed as a legitimate sustainability policy. Nevertheless, the given priority of tradition can conflict with development-related purposes, especially with equality-oriented ones. For instance, the privileging of some traditional family structures may contradict the goals of gender equity. This tension is one of the main analytical issues of the current study.

To elaborate on the conceptual scopes of the analysis, it is necessary to distinguish three aligned yet different educational concepts, which frequently appear in the Turkish curriculum. Values education refers to the transmission of moral principles and ethics, such as honesty and accountability. Civic education aims to enhance the civic awareness and participatory capabilities of the learners. Social sustainability, by contrast, is a general framework that examines whether value orientations and citizenship models contribute to the long-term development of a just, cohesive and resilient society. In this context, the study examines the representation of social sustainability in curriculum materials through a qualitative document analysis approach.

Within the context of this study, the three dimensions of social sustainability proposed by Vallance et al. are used not only as conceptual categories but also as analytical tools guiding the coding process. Each dimension is operationalized through specific indicators observable in textbook content, including patterns of representation, forms of learner participation, and references to cultural continuity. This operationalization enables the systematic identification of sustainability-related themes within both textual and visual materials analyzed in the study.

3.2. The Pedagogic Device and Recontextualization

Drawing on the theory of Pedagogic Device proposed by Basil Bernstein [31], the study analyzes the integration of sustainability-related values in curriculum texts. According to Bernstein, the knowledge generated within disciplines and intellectual areas—such as history or literature—is recontextualized when integrated into an educational context [31]. This is a process in which knowledge is filtered, rearranged, and transformed in line with institutional and curriculum priorities. From this perspective, curricula should be regarded as a social product co-created through historical, political and cultural negotiations instead of a neutral framework [32].

Within the Turkey Century Education Model, this recontextualization process is reflected in the choice and the way literary texts are used. They are not selected based on their aesthetic features alone but also in relation to the values embedded in the national system. This strategy is aligned to the conceptual notion of Official Knowledge, by Michael Apple [7], which dwells on textbooks as potent tools in the formation of mainstream pedagogical discourses. Likewise, the critical analyses of Turkish textbooks have highlighted their role in terms of being ideological spaces in which the institutional values and representational priorities are reproduced [33].

Moreover, the concept of habitus proposed by Pierre Bourdieu [10] sheds more light on how texts contained in the curriculum can aid in the development of long-term dispositions among learners. By shaping representations of language use, gender roles, and attitudes towards authority, textbooks influence students’ perceptions of social roles and norms. In this regard, the Virtue–Value–Action model introduced by the Ministry of National Education (MEB) may be viewed as a guiding structure through which intended educational dispositions are articulated and reinforced.

4. Methodology

4.1. Research Design

The present study employs Critical Document Analysis (CDA) as a qualitative research design focusing on the normative, representational, and ideological dimensions of policy-oriented texts. In contrast to Critical Discourse Analysis, which mostly explores the rhetoric of language use and power at the level of discourse, Critical Document Analysis focuses on the role of official documents and textbooks as institutional artefacts that authorize particular stances on value, social role and pedagogical focus.

Thus, textbooks are not only analyzed with reference to what is directly presented, but also in terms of how they are included, omitted or emphasized. This makes CDA especially relevant when analyzing curriculum materials generated as part of a normatively oriented vision of reform, such as the Turkey Century Education Model, where educational texts play both pedagogic and normative roles.

Contrary to traditional methods of content analysis, which are concerned with quantitative measurements of frequency, such as the number of times a word is used in a text, CDA defines itself as a practice that examines issues of context, functionality and relations within the texts and visuals [34]. Since the Turkey Century Education Model is a policy-based normative approach that lays down certain educational priorities and value orientations, the methodological choice is especially appropriate for the current research.

CDA makes it possible to analyze more than what is explicitly written; it also allows for consideration of indirect meanings, contextual gaps and latent patterns of representation. This methodology allows a clearer insight into how a sustainability discourse constructs and supports sustained sustainability narratives in educational discourse by considering textbooks as data that is situated within a social network. Besides textual analysis, the research also embraces a thorough visual analysis, evaluation of illustrations, photographs, and layout choices through the lens of visual semiotics, hence acknowledging the influence of the visual component of curriculum meaning.

4.2. Corpus Selection

The data of the research were selected using criterion-based purposive sampling [35]. These criteria were defined as (a) the permission of the Ministry of National Education (MEB) for use in the 2024–2025 and 2025–2026 academic years and (b) their direct correspondence with the Turkey Century Education Model. According to these parameters, the analysis focuses on the 9th-grade Turkish Language and Literature Textbook [36], published in 2024 as an introductory textbook defining core values and thematic orientations.

The analysis is complemented by the 10th-grade Turkish Language and Literature Textbook [37], published in 2025, which shows a progression toward more sophisticated literary forms such as epics and legends. These textbooks were selected because literature education occupies an important position in the Turkish curriculum, where cultural narratives, interpretative traditions, and value-oriented themes are transmitted.

Turkish Language and Literature textbooks hold an important place in the Turkish education system as they constitute a curricular space where cultural narratives, collective memory, ethical values, and social responsibility are explicitly addressed. Through literary texts, narratives, and classroom activities, these textbooks often engage with themes such as cultural continuity, citizenship, social responsibility, and community values. For this reason, they provide a relevant corpus for examining how social sustainability is reflected in the Turkey Century Education Model. Furthermore, Turkish Language and Literature courses occupy a central position in the Turkish secondary education curriculum because they directly engage with themes such as identity, citizenship, cultural memory, and ethical values. For this reason, these textbooks provide a particularly suitable corpus for examining how social sustainability discourses are articulated within the broader context of curriculum reform.

The focus on two textbooks should be understood in relation to the scope of the study. Rather than aiming to represent the entire Turkish curriculum, the research focuses on the first textbooks published within the framework of the Turkey Century Education Model. As the reform has only recently been introduced, these textbooks provide the earliest curricular materials through which the representation of social sustainability can be examined. Accordingly, the present research should be understood as an exploratory study focusing on the earliest curricular materials produced within the framework of the Turkey Century Education Model. Although the analysis is limited to Turkish Language and Literature textbooks, these materials provide an important entry point for examining how social sustainability principles are translated into curriculum discourse. Future research may expand this analysis to additional subject areas and grade levels in order to provide a more comprehensive understanding of sustainability representations across the curriculum.

4.3. Data Analysis Procedure

Data analysis was conducted in three stages. In practical terms, the analysis was carried out through a systematic examination of the textual, visual, and pedagogical elements in the textbooks. Each chapter was reviewed to identify narrative structures, visual representations, and instructional activities related to social sustainability. The analytical units consisted of literary excerpts, explanatory texts, learning tasks, images, and paratextual elements (such as introductions and pedagogical notes). These elements were examined not only for their explicit content but also for implicit representational patterns that shape social roles, identities, and value orientations within the curriculum.

The first phase was an immersion stage, in which all the texts were read repeatedly to identify narrative structures, pedagogical patterns and thematic focus. At this stage, particular attention was paid to prefaces, pedagogical instructions and teacher notes in order to identify the intended pedagogical orientation.

The second stage involved deductive coding on the basis of a structured coding scheme. This scheme was developed based on the intersection of the social sustainability model proposed by Vallance and colleagues [1] and the values system expressed by the Ministry of National Education [9]. In this respect, the tripartite social sustainability model served as the primary analytical framework for identifying patterns of representation related to Development, Bridge, and Maintenance Sustainability. These representations were interpreted within the broader curricular context of the Virtue–Value–Action structure of the Turkey Century Education Model. This combined perspective made it possible to relate the thematic emphasis observed in textbook materials to the value-oriented pedagogical principles guiding the curriculum reform. Within this analytical framework, the Vallance model provides the primary categories for coding sustainability-related content, while the Virtue–Value–Action model functions as a curricular lens for interpreting how these themes are pedagogically framed within the Turkey Century Education Model. The complementary use of these two frameworks enables a more integrated understanding of both the thematic content and the value-oriented structure of the curriculum.

Coding was conducted in line with the principles of qualitative content analysis [38], with careful attention to the systematic formation of categories and interpretative consistency. A critical interpretative analysis was employed in the final stage in order to establish patterns of representation, inclusion, and emphasis in both textual and visual content. The presence of thematic gaps, especially those concerning dimensions commonly linked to social sustainability, was also examined at this stage.

The unit of analysis consisted of identifiable content units within the textbooks, such as excerpts from literary texts, explanatory passages, dialogue sections, learning tasks, and visual elements such as illustrations. To enhance the reliability of the analytical process, the coding was conducted collaboratively by the researchers. A subset of the coded units was independently reviewed to check the consistency of category assignments. Any discrepancies in coding were discussed and resolved through repeated comparison with the analytical definitions of the three sustainability dimensions until consensus was reached.

4.4. Development of the Coding Scheme

The coding scheme was the central methodological element of the study. Rather than applying general themes, a systematic and theoretically informed approach was adopted and developed based on the relationship between social sustainability dimensions outlined by Vallance et al. [1] and the national values framework proposed by the Ministry of National Education [9]. Any textual or visual element portraying social interaction was defined as a unit of analysis. Visual materials were analyzed by taking into account the social roles, activities, and interaction patterns reflected in illustrations. Attention was paid to how characters were positioned, the kinds of actions they performed, and the types of social relations implied in the visual context. In this study, coding was carried out at the level of meaningful textual or visual segments rather than entire lessons or pages. A coded unit could consist of a paragraph, a literary excerpt, a dialogue segment, a learning task, or a visual illustration representing social interaction. When multiple indicators appeared within the same segment, each instance was coded separately in order to capture recurring patterns of representation.

The units were then grouped into three social sustainability dimensions. The codes of Development Sustainability dealt with the issues of visibility and social roles, such as professional and domestic representations. Bridge Sustainability codes explored modes of learner participation, such as active problem-solving tasks and more receptive forms of engagement. Maintenance Sustainability codes included references to cultural heritage and value-based representations. Such a deductive approach ensured theoretical coherence while allowing for context-sensitive interpretation within the Turkish education system. The coded variables were not assigned differential statistical weights during the analytical process. Each category was treated as analytically equivalent in order to identify representational patterns rather than construct a numerical index. The aim of the coding procedure was therefore to identify the presence and distribution of sustainability-related themes across the textbooks [39,40]. Accordingly, the frequency values presented in the results section represent the occurrence of coded units rather than weighted measurements. The final coding scheme is presented in

Table 1. Operational definitions and coding scheme of the content analysis.

Social Sustainability Dimensions	Category	Indicator	Unit of Analysis	Description
Development Sustainability	Gender Representation	Visibility	Textual/Visual	Relative visibility of female and male characters
	Roles	Professional vs. Domestic	Textual	Representation of formal and domestic roles
	Inclusivity	Disability	Textual/Visual	Presence of individuals with disabilities
Bridge Sustainability	Participation	Active	Textual	Active engagement and initiative in learning contexts
	Eco-Agency	Environmental Action	Textual	References to environmental protection and sustainability awareness
Maintenance Sustainability	Culture	Heritage	Textual	Historical narratives, epics, and traditional cultural forms

.

4.5. Trustworthiness and Researcher Reflexivity

In this qualitative study, methodological rigor and reliability were attained using several complementary strategies. The theoretical strength was achieved through triangulation; therefore, the results were explained within the integrative framework of sustainability theory and the critical pedagogy theory in such a way as to create a deeper view of the analysis.

Consensus-based coding procedures were used to ensure reliability. Twenty percent of randomly chosen data was independently coded by two researchers, and any discrepancies were debated until consensus was reached. Such a process is generally regarded as an effective way of increasing the analytical coherence and transparency in the qualitative studies [41].

To strengthen verifiability, a rigorous and detailed audit trail documenting coding decisions, category refinement and analytic memos was also documented during the process of the research. This type of documentation took the interpretation decisions to be followed systematically and ensured that the findings were based on the data.

The researcher’s reflexivity was resolved by clearly understanding the contextuality of curriculum analysis and adopting a purely data-based interpretative strategy. All the analytical claims were supported with direct textual evidence and detailed visual descriptions. This minimized biases of interpretation and made sure that the findings were based on empirical content rather than assumptions. Collectively, these procedures ensured methodological transparency and analytical rigor by clearly defining the unit of analysis, specifying the coding scheme, and outlining the procedures used to maintain coding consistency throughout the analysis.

5. Results

A total of 245 coded units were identified through the content analysis of the 9th- and 10th-grade Turkish Language and Literature textbooks. These units were categorized according to the analytical framework described in the methodology section. Examples of coded units identified during the analysis are presented in Supplementary Table S1 to illustrate the types of textual and visual elements included in the coding process. The distribution of coded units across the three dimensions of social sustainability is presented in

Table 2. Frequency distribution of social sustainability indicators in the analyzed textbooks.

Social Sustainability Dimension	Theme/Category	Grade 9 (f)	Grade 10 (f)	Total (f)	%
Maintenance Sustainability	References to Cultural Heritage	58	74	132	53.8
Bridge Sustainability	Eco-Social Engagement	34	29	63	25.7
Development Sustainability	Equity and Inclusivity	19	31	50	20.5
Total		111	134	245	100

.

As shown in Table 2, Maintenance Sustainability constitutes the largest category, accounting for 53.8% of the coded units. This is followed by Bridge Sustainability (25.7%) and Development Sustainability (20.5%).

5.1. Development Sustainability: Representation Patterns and Visual Semiotics

A clear pattern emerges regarding representation and visibility in the curriculum. In both Grade 9 and Grade 10 textbooks, the male characters were described more often in both narrative and informative contexts. Quantitative results showed that canonical writers and heroes were mostly male, with an approximate ratio of five male figures to one female figure. In addition to these numerical patterns, qualitative analysis indicated that gender was constructed differently across textual and visual formats within the textbooks.

In cases where female characters were included in the textbooks, it primarily reflected what Blumberg [11] describes as additive inclusion, in which women are incorporated into the curriculum without a fundamental restructuring of dominant narrative frames. For example, in the Grade 9 textbook, Halide Nusret Zorlutuna was presented through an excerpt from her memoir Nihayet Beklediğimiz Büyük Gün and referenced as an intellectual figure associated with the War of Independence. Although this representation acknowledged the involvement of women in historical processes, the female agency was mostly constructed through such exceptional or symbolic duties, rather than ordinary employment or political activism [42]. Within broader fictional and literary texts, women were more commonly associated with domestic roles, familial identities, or idealized poetic representations.

Likewise, in the Grade 10 textbook, the Reşide Hatice Hanım Foundation was referenced to illustrate women’s engagement in philanthropic activities. Through this example, contributions related to social care and service-oriented roles were highlighted. Nevertheless, female agency was extensively framed in relational and supportive contexts as opposed to explicitly public, authoritative or decision-making spheres.

These textual patterns were reinforced through visual analysis. Male figures were mainly depicted in illustrations and accompanying images in active positions, such as speaking to the audience, traveling or leading group activities, whereas female figures were predominantly portrayed in passive positions or as assistants. Instead of delivering overtly exclusionary messages, established representational conventions were reproduced via these visual arrangements.

These patterns suggest structural tendencies rather than merely descriptive representations. With regard to disability representation, only a limited number of examples were identified in both grades. The portrayal of Aşık Veysel in the Grade 9 textbook highlighted the visual impairment of the poet as an enhancer of inner perception (gönül gözü). Even though such a representation can be seen as positive within its literary context, disability was framed in terms of exceptional personal traits rather than as an identity reflecting human diversity. Moreover, individuals with disabilities were rarely represented in everyday social contexts such as schools or community settings. As a result, disability was not presented as a normal part of social life within the curriculum. This invisibility suggests that disability is not addressed as an integral dimension of social diversity in the curriculum.

In terms of social sustainability, these representational patterns have structural meanings rather than being descriptive. This consistent foregrounding of male figures in authoritative and decision-making roles, alongside the association of female participation with relational or supportive functions, contributes to the implicit reinforcement of stereotypical gender roles. Even though women were not explicitly excluded, the repertoire of socially conceivable roles available to learners, especially female students, may be implicitly constrained.

Similarly, exceptional and limited portrayals of disability risks reinforce difference rather than normalizing diversity within social life. From a pedagogical standpoint, the absence of individuals with disabilities from normal social and public life restricts the curriculum’s potential to foster inclusive social imaginaries aligned with the principles of Development Sustainability.

5.2. Bridge Sustainability: Pedagogical Practices and Learner Engagement

The analysis for Bridge Sustainability demonstrated that there were similar patterns of learner engagement and task design in the textbooks under analysis. Unlike transmissive instructional models, which restrict learner engagement, the textbooks focus on the activities that necessitate active participation on the part of the learners. Both Grade 9 materials and Grade 10 materials constantly include performance-based tasks (Sıra Sizde) and employ instructional language that foregrounds student agency.

Task instruction is more often phrased as a series of imperative verbs, including research, design, interview, and debate, which makes the learner an active participant in the knowledge-building process. For example, in the Grade 10 textbook [38], the curriculum directs students to do local legends research, convert written narrative materials into artistic works like short films, and identify the social problems in their immediate community, along with potential ways of community involvement. Through these tasks, the curriculum encourages action-oriented learning practices as an essential element in its design of instruction [43].

In addition to task design, narrative content is an important factor in exemplifying eco-social themes. In the Grade 9 textbook, the short story Bir Kavak ve İnsanlar (“A Poplar Tree and People”) by Haldun Taner [37] represents environmental issues at a literary level. The story describes a scheduled clearing of a tree in an urban setting of development and renders environmental change symbolic and expressive. These texts justify pedagogical strategies that promote learners’ ability to reflect on the relationship between humans and the environment, as well as social responsibility, as highlighted in the literature on education for Sustainable Development [14].

Ultimately, the results suggest that the curriculum describes Bridge Sustainability as a union of participatory pedagogical practices and thematic coverage of eco-social concerns across both grade levels.

5.3. Maintenance Sustainability: Cultural Continuity and Heritage Narratives

The frequency analysis indicates that 53.8% of coded units correspond to the Maintenance Sustainability dimension. The pattern refers to a focus on cultural continuity and delivery of heritage-connected themes in the curriculum. At both grade levels, the curriculum establishes historical narratives in a way that links past eras of Turkish history to current national identity, thereby reflecting conceptualizations of cultural continuity as a sustainability strategy rather than a deficit [29].

The unit on Epics (Destanlar) in the Grade 10 textbook [38] goes beyond a simple collection of literary genres and places epic narratives into the broader cultural context that also underpins the goals of the national curriculum [9]. The curriculum includes the canonical works, including Dede Korkut and Oğuz Kağan, alongside the notion of courage, hospitality, and collective responsibility. Through these narratives, the literature curriculum appeals to collective cultural reference and maintains value systems based on traditional cultural history.

Language is also provided as one of the pivotal principles of cultural continuity. In the Grade 9 textbook [37], the unit The Power of the Word (Sözün İnceliği) represents Turkish as a cultural resource, which is tied to historical depth and collective memory. Instructional framing reflects the idea of preservation and continuity, and prefigures the influence of language on the maintenance of links between the past and present according to the value-driven goals of the official curriculum documents [9]. This perspective is further reinforced through paratextual features, such as textbook introductions, which emphasize the importance of historical consciousness in the development of future generations.

Overall, these results indicate that the curriculum is based on Maintenance Sustainability, indicating or referring to the dimensions of heritage, language, and historical continuity, and this feature can be considered a major part of the curriculum framework throughout both analyzed textbooks.

6. Discussion

The results of this research address a curriculum that integrates global educational discourses with a nation-oriented culture. The analyzed textbooks reflect a unified approach to different orientations of sustainability rather than presenting a single model of social sustainability. Social sustainability can be viewed as a multi-level construct that is influenced by a mixture of pedagogical goals and culturally based references. This pattern can be framed in the general discourse of educational sociology on how schooling is associated with social continuity and change.

Taken collectively, these findings explain the way the recontextualization of sustainability in the Turkish curriculum functions on several levels of pedagogical and ideological structuring. As conceptualized by Bernstein [31], knowledge surrounding sustainability is selectively recontextualized to favor cultural continuity and value transmission in a manner that defines the pedagogical message through literature education. According to Biesta [44], this form anticipates socialization roles of schooling yet provides fewer subjectifying possibilities through critical engagement.

Meanwhile, the emphasis on practical action points to the model of personally responsible citizenship described by Westheimer and Kahne [15], in which participation and responsibility are promoted without continuous engagement in structural critique. This synthesis suggests that social sustainability in the Turkey Century Education Model is present but selectively framed by separating participatory practices from culturally grounded narrative constructions.

This high representation of Maintenance Sustainability may imply that the curriculum places specific emphasis on cultural continuity and collective historical references. This orientation is more closely aligned with socialization than with subjectification in Biesta’s framework [44], because curricular discourses overwhelmingly foreground communal memory, legacy concepts, and cultural heritage. Such a focus contributes to forms of social cohesion and cultural capital that are widely recognized as components of social sustainability. At the same time, processes of individual identity formation seem to be influenced more by the encoded cultural narratives than facilitated as reflexive or first-order educational purposes.

Bridge Sustainability, however, is further elaborated via pedagogical practices whose emphasis is placed on performance and student engagement. In accordance with the typology proposed by Westheimer and Kahne [15], the textbooks mostly promote advanced traits connected to the personally responsible citizen, such as environmental awareness, voluntary activities, and community projects. These practices are based on the action (Eylem) aspect of the curriculum and facilitate experiential learning strategies. Nevertheless, forms of citizenship that involve a more explicit engagement with the structural dimensions of social issues—often described as structurally reflexive forms of citizenship—remain marginal within the instructional design. In terms of critical pedagogy, this may limit learners’ opportunities to explore the social aspects of sustainability more, especially on structural conditions that influence participation and equity [16,44]. This tendency, as Giroux [16] notes, reflects a broader international trend in sustainability education, where ethical engagement and social activism often receive greater emphasis than institutional critique. The observed trend can be seen in that respect as a pedagogic disposition rather than a deficiency in the curricula [45].

The results associated with Development Sustainability signify a more restricted expression of equity-based insights of particular reference to gender representation. Though the concepts of justice and fairness are proclaimed on the declarative level, there appear to be implicit patterns in the textual and visual contents that offer a limited range of social roles, which women have to undertake [46]. This pattern finds an echo in Kandiyoti’s conception of conditional inclusion [42], where women are regarded and valued in the social field but considered mostly in terms of the traditional or maternal roles. All these representations are aligned alongside curricular talk of competence and leadership, and can result in conflicts between the rhetoric of social continuity and student desires of personal empowerment, especially among female students negotiating normative representations of citizenship and belonging [31,47].

Curriculum reform processes are rarely purely technical; they are often embedded within broader social, cultural, and political debates. In this regard, the Turkey Century Education Model can also be understood as part of an ongoing discussion concerning the relationship between national identity, cultural continuity, and global educational agendas [47]. The emphasis on heritage, collective memory, and cultural narratives observed in the textbooks reflects not only pedagogical choices but also broader societal priorities shaping contemporary educational policy [48]. In this regard, curriculum reforms can also be understood within the broader socio-political contexts in which they emerge [49]. Educational policies often reflect national priorities, cultural narratives, and evolving debates about identity, citizenship, and social cohesion [50]. From this perspective, the Turkey Century Education Model can be interpreted not only as a pedagogical reform but also as part of a broader effort to redefine educational values and societal expectations in contemporary Turkey [51].

The Turkish example studied in this paper is not unique. Similar patterns of curriculum reform are found in other systems, including Hungary, India, and Poland, where education systems have gone through parallel processes of restructuring. Comparative education studies indicate that curriculum restructuring tends to serve more effectively when it is localized in response to local cultures and institutions, as opposed to generalized models and demands [44]. From this comparative perspective, the findings underscore the significance of applying social sustainability as a context-driven idea instead of a general set of principles. In the Turkish context, social sustainability is defined mainly by the use of cultural cohesion and heritage narratives, with selective integration of the participatory and equity-based dimensions. This layered configuration emphasizes the value of regarding sustainability frameworks as practices shaped by specific historical, cultural, and institutional conditions [52].

This study has a number of limitations that should be acknowledged. First, the corpus of the analysis consists of the 9th- and 10th-grade Turkish Language and Literature textbooks prepared within the framework of the Turkey Century Education Model. Although these textbooks represent the first stage of the curriculum reform, they do not cover the entire secondary education level. Therefore, the findings should be interpreted within the context of these grade levels. Second, the curriculum reform examined in this study is still in the process of implementation. As a result, future revisions of textbooks and curricular materials may lead to changes in the representation of social sustainability themes. Further research may include additional grade levels and newly published materials in order to provide a more comprehensive evaluation of the reform process.

From a practical perspective, the findings of this study may also offer several implications for teachers, curriculum designers, and policymakers. For teachers, recognizing how social sustainability themes are embedded in literary texts may support the integration of discussions on citizenship, cultural continuity, and social responsibility into classroom practices. For curriculum designers and policymakers, the results highlight the importance of balancing cultural narratives with participatory and inclusive perspectives when integrating sustainability-related themes into educational materials.

7. Conclusions

This paper has provided a comprehensive empirical analysis of the ways social sustainability is expressed in the Turkey Century Education Model based on the review of official curriculum reports and the Turkish Language and Literature textbooks. The study presents a qualitative analysis of text- and image-based content and links it to the analysis of curriculum analysis to contribute to current discussion in curriculum studies and sustainability-oriented education at the international level [1].

The findings indicate that the curriculum incorporates modern pedagogical practices and project-based and student-centered learning into the instructional design of literature education. In particular, the prevalence of action-oriented tasks indicates a transition from passive learning practices towards engagement forms that are consistent with Bridge Sustainability [6,15]. Simultaneously, these pedagogical practices are embedded in culturally situated content, suggesting that pedagogical invention and cultural sustainability may coexist in the same curriculum.

The emphasis on Maintenance Sustainability specifies the significance of cultural heritage, language, and historical narratives as focal points within the curriculum [9]. Sustainability is therefore not simply an ecological or a social concept, but is rather a construct based on the sustainability of common cultural meanings. Although this inclination contributes to the social unity and the realization that people share a certain identity, it also points to the necessity of having an equilibrium between cultural tradition and being open to new societal experiences and thinking.

The findings further indicate that Development Sustainability, especially in terms of equity and inclusivity, is less well represented in the curricular content. The recent literature on the Turkish curriculum also notes that despite the heavy focus on values education, its translation into an inclusive and equity-focused provision has been disproportionate [46]. Although the values of justice and responsibility are articulated on paper, even texts and images that represent gender and disability still demonstrate only a small number of socially accepted roles. This pattern implies that dimensions of sustainability related to equity need to be more systemic mechanisms instead of being selectively identified symbolically through rights-based discourse in non-normalized forms.

In a broader analytical perspective, the Turkish case demonstrates that social sustainability is situated within specific national contexts rather than applied uniformly across cultures. The emergence of similar curriculum reforms in different national settings suggests that sustainability-oriented education is negotiated within particular historical, cultural, and institutional contexts rather than implemented as a universal model. A stronger emphasis on Development Sustainability, together with the integration of cultural continuity and participatory pedagogical practices, may contribute to the development of more inclusive and robust curriculum designs in future research and educational practice [6]. Increasing the visibility of diverse social actors and expanding opportunities for reflective and participatory forms of citizenship may further support the long-term objectives of social sustainability across different curricular contexts.

However, the findings of this study should be interpreted within the scope of the selected corpus. As the analysis focuses on two Turkish Language and Literature textbooks, the results are not intended to represent the entire curriculum structure of the Turkey Century Education Model [37,38]. Rather, the study offers an exploratory insight into how social sustainability themes may appear in early curricular materials developed within the framework of the reform. Future studies may expand this line of inquiry by examining additional subjects, grade levels, and curricular documents in order to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how social sustainability is represented across the broader curriculum [53].