An Analysis of Authorized Elementary Social Studies Textbooks Based on the 2022 Revised Curriculum Using IPA: Focusing on Curriculum Alignment and Student-Level Appropriateness

The purpose of this study is to examine how newly introduced achievement standards in the 2022 Revised Elementary Social Studies Curriculum are reflected in authorized textbooks and whether their content is appropriate for the developmental level of elementary students, in order to derive implications for textbook and curriculum development through Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA). A survey was conducted with elementary school teachers who have extensive textbook writing experience to assess curriculum alignment and student-level appropriateness, and the results were mapped using IPA. The findings are as follows. First, teachers perceived the student-level appropriateness of textbook activities to be relatively lower than their curriculum alignment. Second, creative interpretations of the achievement standards did not necessarily lead to higher evaluations; rather, familiar and conventional organizational approaches tended to receive more stable ratings. Third, many activities within a unit appeared to function as formally arranged elements to satisfy structural requirements rather than as essential learning components. Fourth, the expansion of textbook activities led to overlaps with content in other subjects and grade levels. Taken together, these findings suggest that activity-oriented elementary social studies textbooks do not necessarily guarantee textbook quality, and therefore critical review should precede their development and adoption. The study calls for broader discussion on high-quality textbook development and highlights the need for field-oriented curriculum design that substantively incorporates teachers’ professional expertise and pedagogical judgment.