Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand the perceptions of students with different economic and socio-cultural environments, related to children’s rights, along with the sources of information on their rights and the problems they have encountered. The scope of the present study is three different public elementary schools which have a considerable amount of students with higher, middle, and lower socio-economic status in Turkey. The data of the study were gathered through semi-structured interviews with students. With reference to the findings of the present study, it can be claimed that students’ perceptions related to children rights differentiate along with the sources of information on their rights, the problems they encountered and their socio-economic status. For instance, while the students with lower and middle socio-economic status acknowledged the provision and protection rights, the students with higher socio-economic status acknowledged the participation rights in the interviews. Most of the students learnt their rights during their formal education at school. Additionally, students with lower and middle socio-economic status declared that they could not express their thoughts both in school and in their family.

Key words: Children’s rights, citizenship education, elementary, democracy.