Investigation of pre-school education teachers' opinions concerning children's rights and children participation rights

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine pre-school teachers’ opinions concerning children's rights and children's participation rights. This case study was conducted with 30 pre-school teachers working in Van province. In this study, semi-structured interview form was used for data collection. The data were analyzed with descriptive analysis. As a result of this study, it was concluded that majority of teachers emphasize vital, development, protection and participation rights when they refer to children's rights. It was concluded that concerning children's participation rights teachers emphasized students' rights to freely express their views and participate in decision-making processes related to them. It was concluded that teachers' activities in pre-school period concerning children's rights and their participation rights are in accordance with the nature of the child's learning. It was determined that the most important problem that teachers face during teaching children the rights and providing children with participation rights is because of the traditional attitude of families. In addition, it was concluded that teachers face problems because of children's cognitive/developmental characteristics, having difficulty in expressing themselves or being shy because of parents' repressive attitude.

Keywords

• Çocuk hakları
• Çocuk katılım hakkı
• Okul öncesi öğretmenleri
• Erken çocukluk