Children’s Rights in the Early Childhood Education Curriculum and Activity Book in Türkiye

Abstract

This research evaluates the representation of children’s rights in the Early Childhood Education curriculum and Activity Book in Türkiye. Content analysis was used to assess the scope, depth, and frequency of children’s rights-related learning achievements in both the curriculum and the Activity Book, revealing that these achievements do not explicitly emphasize children’s rights in areas such as cognitive, language, and motor development. However, 11 out of 17 social-emotional development objectives and 116 activities indirectly addressed children’s rights. The research suggests a need for the explicit inclusion of fundamental rights in the curriculum and the Activity Book, tailored to children’s age, enhancing skills in conflict resolution, safety awareness, empathy, and opposition to rights violations. Keywords: early childhood education; children’s rights; human rights; content analysis.