Opinions of social studies teachers related to child rights

The aim of this study is to reveal the perspectives of Social Studies teachers towards children's rights. In this study, one of the qualitative research methods, "case study design" was used in accordance with the nature of it. Data related to the study were obtained through a semi-structured interview form prepared by the researcher. The data of the study were obtained through interviews from 20 Social Studies teachers working in various secondary schools within the borders of Diyarbakır province in the spring semester of 2018-2019 educational term. The data obtained were analyzed via content analysis. According to data, the researchers have reached the following conclusions: It is believed that the convention on the rights of children is completely unrequited in Turkey. Legal measures relating to children's rights in Turkey are also considered to be insufficient. In our country, children are mostly neglected and violated in terms of physical and psychological abuse, sexual abuse, and in terms of child labor rights. Social Studies courses raise awareness of the children for children's rights. The curriculum of the Social Studies course however is insufficient both in terms of the number of courses and in terms of content to tackle the issues of children's rights. Teachers teach children's rights to their students mostly by talking them about it and giving examples from daily life, creating classroom pin-boards and using drama method. The majority of the teachers have problems in transferring the necessary information related to children's rights in the social studies courses in the classrooms. Teachers believe that the objectives regarding children's rights envisaged for the Social Studies courses can not really be achieved to a large extent.