Social studies is a subject concerned with the study of individuals, communities, systems, and their interactions across time and place that prepares students for local, national and global civic life. It is a core subject in the education system as it gives students the tools to understand the world around them. This subject encompasses various disciplines, including history, geography, economics, political science, and sociology. In teaching this subject, effective teaching strategies are crucial to help the students develop their critical and creative thinking skills, historical empathy, and global awareness, which are necessary to lead their lives successfully in today's complex world. This needs the use of appropriate methods and approaches in teaching social studies by the subject teachers. The teachers should have a positive attitude towards teaching social studies. The present study is an attempt to explore the attitude of secondary school teachers towards teaching social studies in secondary schools. The researchers used a well-developed and standardized questionnaire as the tool of research for collection of data from the respondents. The sample of the study comprises of 180 teachers (90 Headmasters and 90 School Assistants in Social Studies) from 90 selected secondary schools, taking 30 schools from each of the three districts, viz., Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and Anakapalli in Andhra Pradesh using Stratified Random Sampling method. Mean score values, standard deviations and independent t-tests were used for analysis of data. The findings of the study revealed that the demographic variables – ‘Gender’ and ‘Professional qualification’ have no influence on the attitude of teachers towards teaching Social Studies in secondary schools. However, the ‘School Management’ has a significant positive influence on their attitude towards teaching Social Studies. The study suggested that the Social Studies teachers in secondary schools need to improve their pedagogical skills by attending In-service training programs conducted by different academic organizations from time to time. Further, the study suggested integrating technology in teaching social studies in secondary schools.

approaches, social studies, teachers, attitude, methods of teaching