Development of a Scale for the Attitude Towards Children’s Rights Education

Abstract

The objective of this study was to develop a Scale for the Attitude Towards Children’s Rights Education (ATCRE) for teacher candidates. The study group was comprised of 550 classroom and pre-school teacher candidates in Turkey. Proofs regarding the construct validity of the scale were acquired via Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). A scale structure comprised of 20 items and three factors was reached as a result of EFA. It was determined that the three factors determined explain 68.188% of the total variance. CFA was carried out in order to check the validity of the construct acquired as a result of EFA. It was determined from the CFA fit indexes that GFI(.90), AGFI(.88) and NFI(.93) are at acceptable fit levels whereas X2/sd(CMIN/DF) (1.234), CFI(.99), IFI(.99), RMSEA(.039), SRMR(.039) are at perfect fit levels. Cronbach Alpha (internal consistency) reliability coefficients, test-retest reliability, item total correlations and item distinctiveness values were examined. Cronbach Alpha value for the whole scale was calculated as .914. Whereas the Cronbach Alpha values for the sub-factors of the scale were calculated respectively as .902, .930 and .881. In conclusion, it can be stated that a reliable and valid measurement instrument has been reached.

Keywords

• children’s rights
• children’s rights education
• scale development
• children’s rights education attitude
• teacher candidates