Examining pre-school education teacher candidates' ideas about climate change in the context of children's rights

The aim of the study is to determine pre-service preschool teachers' definitions of climate change as a children's rights issue, their views on the impact of climate change on children's lives, and their views on the connection between the crises caused by climate change and children's rights. In the study designed as a case study, the questions in the questionnaire prepared by the researcher were answered by pre-service preschool teachers. The study group of the research consisted of 48 pre-service teachers who were studying in the 4th grade of the Department of Preschool Education at Trakya University Faculty of Education and participated in the research voluntarily. The data obtained through the questionnaire were analyzed and evaluated. As a result of the research, pre-service teachers stated that their knowledge about climate change is a situation that affects living things and the world; they mostly likened climate change to paying a price, balance and change, irreversible consequences and loss of function. Pre-service teachers' views on the effects of the climate crisis on their lives frequently focused on natural events, health, economy, change in natural resources, and change of seasons. It has been observed that teacher candidates who think that the climate crisis will affect the lives of children in early childhood give answers consistent with children's rights, which they think may be affected by the climate crisis. Pre-service teachers think that children are most affected in the right to life due to the water and health crisis and in the right to participation due to the participation crisis.