Comparison of human rights content in secondary school social studies curricula and textbooks in Turkey and Iraq

The main aim of this research is to identify the commonalities and differences regarding human rights education in the social studies curriculum and textbooks of middle school (grades 5, 6, and 7) in Turkey and middle school (grades 1, 2, and 3) in Iraq. It aims to examine the status of human rights (achievements, skills, and values) in the social studies curriculum and textbooks of middle schools in each country separately. The sample of the research consists of the human rights achievements, skills, values, and the social studies textbooks of middle school (grades 5, 6, and 7) in Turkey, and the social studies textbooks of middle school (grades 1, 2, and 3) in Iraq. Document analysis methods from qualitative research were used in the data analysis of the research. The results of the research indicate that the issue of human rights is generally addressed both in text and visuals in the content of social studies textbooks for middle school (grades 5, 6, and 7) in Turkey and middle school (grades 1, 2, and 3) in Iraq, except for the visuals in Iraq's 1st grade. In this context, the issue of human rights is more comprehensively addressed in the social studies textbooks of middle schools in Turkey compared to those in Iraq. However, none of the units in the content of the social studies textbooks for middle school (grades 5, 6, and 7) in Turkey and middle school (grades 1, 2, and 3) in Iraq, except for Iraq's 3rd grade, are directly devoted to human rights. Keywords: Social Studies, Human Rights, Curriculum, Textbook Review.