Children’s Perspective on the Right of Self-determination

Abstract

The present study was conducted to determine the thoughts of children, whose lives are governed by decisions taken by adults, on the right to self-determination. The study was conducted as a generic qualitative research, a qualitative research design. The study group included 16 chil-dren. The data were collected with semi-structured interviews conducted with children. Before the data collection process, the solo test game was played with children as ice breaker. After the solo test game, the modified version of the Cinderella fairy tale was read by the children and they were asked questions about the fairy tale. The objective of the modified Cinderella tale was to make children imagine a world where the decisions are taken by children. After the fairy tales, the semi-structured interview was conducted. The interviews were conducted upon the ap-proval of the children to record the conversations, and the replies provided by children who did not provide approval for voice recordings were noted by the first author. The findings were analyzed with descriptive analysis. Based on the analysis results, the collected data was grouped in five categories that were organized under two themes. In conclusion, students stated that they were able to decide on daily matters such as selecting clothes, what to eat, however, they were presented with no choices in matters that could affect their lives such as school selection. Children stated that adults do not believe that children can make decisions on issues relevant to children’s lives.

Keywords

• Self-determination right
• right to participate