Assessment of candidate teachers knowledge and awareness levels towards child neglect and abuse

There is a direct relationship between the value given to children and the evaluation of the community's culture forward or back in a society. Despite this widespread opinion, there is still a physical, emotional and sexual unapproved treatment to the child by parents, the immediate surroundings, various sectors of the society in many countries of the world. Some of them are working as hard labour at a young age, some of them are forced to join the war. Some of them are stuck for many basic needs such as food, shelter, education and nurture, as a result of these conditions they stay in the disabled or lose their life. The purpose of this study is to determine the knowledge and awareness level of the candidate teachers who have major tasks in respect of child neglect and abuse. The population of the study consists of 1027 senior students studying at Ziya Gökalp Faculty of Education of Dicle University. The goal was to reach the whole population. However, since the participation was voluntary, a total of 481 candidate teachers participated in the study. "Assessment of Candidate Teachers' Knowledge and Awareness Levels Towards Child Neglect and Abuse" survey was carried through to determine the knowledge and awareness level of the candidate teachers in respect of child neglect and abuse. The data obtained in the study were analysed using SPSS packet programme. 481 candidate teachers participated in this study. 60.1% from participants had received no training on child neglect and abuse during their undergraduate education, 83.5% from participants are not informed at all about the child protection law, 87% from participants don't participate any education, course or conference about this subject, 80.3% from participants stated that they need to be informed about it. The 76.5% of candidate teachers said that they had to inform child neglect and abuse according to the law. The 54.1% of candidate teachers have preferred the police to report child abuse and neglect as their destination. 63% of the candidate teachers, who think they do not have to report child neglect and abuse by the law, stated causes of reporting failure that "because I thought social services would not deal with the issue of the subject". 43% of the candidate teachers, who participated in survey, evaluated written and visual media's publications on ix the issue is that "is not showing the necessary sensitivity about child neglect and abuse". When candidate teachers compared the incidents of neglect and abuse in our country with other countries, the rate of incidents of neglect and abuse in our country was found to be nearly 57.5% "higher" than the other countries. In conclusion, necessity to increase the candidate teachers' education and awareness level about child abuse and neglect is revealed again. Key Words: Child, neglect and abuse, awareness, candidate teachers.