Abstract
Child Rights Education in the Social Sciences (Gesellschaftswissenschaften) Course in Germany
Children need to gain awareness on child rights which directly concern themselves.
The first step in achieving rights awareness in children is child rights education. This way,
a holistic approach towards establishing a “child rights culture” may be developed. The
social sciences (Gesellschaftswissenschaften) course is one of the courses in Germany
where child rights education is provided. Social sciences course is an integrated teaching
course that is offered at grades 5/6 which are block classes in primary education
(Grundschule) in the state of Berlin in Germany and is established with a similar
approach to the social studies course in Turkey. The purpose of this study is to present
the characteristics of the main approach regarding child rights education in the social
sciences course. In this context, the study was carried out by using the qualitative research
method of case study. The sample of the study consisted of the textbook named Projekt
G used in the social sciences course in Berlin. The instrument of data collection was
document analysis which is appropriate for a case study. Descriptive analysis and content
analysis were used in the analysis of the data. According to the results of the study, in
the subject area Children’s worlds– perfect worlds? of the social sciences textbook, child
rights education was taken on in historical and thematic contexts, the right to education
constituted the main category, and it was designed in suitability with the constructivist
approach with its way of presentation, texts that were presented through sources and
case studies and various visuals that would help students construct ideas. Moreover, in
addition to principal instruction of child rights, attention was directed towards rights
violations, and in this context, a framework was drawn around disadvantaged children.
Keywords
Child Rights Education, Child Rights, Social Sciences, Gesellschaftswissenschaften, Social Studies,
