An Empirical Study Investigating Sixth and Ninth
Grade Pupils in Sweden
Bachelor Thesis in Global Studies (15 credits)
International Work – Managing in Global Studies
Author: Anna Ferdinandsson, Anna Sperl
Supervisor: Berndt Brikell Jönköping, June 2014
Children´s knowledge about the
Bachelor Thesis in Global Studies
Title: Children’s knowledge about the Convention on the Rights of the Child –
An empirical study investigating sixth and ninth grade pupils in Sweden
Author: Anna Ferdinandsson
Anna Sperl
Supervisor: Berndt Brikell
Examiner: Marco Nilsson
Date: 2014-05-28 Number of pages: 31
Subject terms: Convention on the Rights of the Child, Convention on the Rights of the
Child Article 42, Children’s rights knowledge, Children’s rights awareness among children
Abstract
The 20th of November 1989 has become a historical day for children all around the world. The day when the United Nations established the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the international community agreed upon a commitment to make sure that every child has equal rights that must be protected, respected and fulfilled. The ratifying countries have used the Convention to implement new policies to improve the lives of millions of children all around the world. Today children are better of in many ways and more than ever before young people are recognized as having rights. However, in order for children to have the complete possibility to get their right recognized and to fully participate in the society both children and adults alike need to be aware of the convention and have the accurate knowledge. A child who knows that he or she, among other things, has the right to express his or her opinion freely and that adults should take their opinions into account, find it easier to do so. It has been shown in previous studies that this has resulted in more children standing up for their rights and having a greater desire of helping others. This study therefore builds on the current state of research to investigate children´s own awareness of the Convention and their rights by examining sixth and ninth grade pupils from the city of Jönköping in Sweden. The chosen research approach had a quantitative design and was conducted in different classes during school time as a questionnaire survey. The study consists of 349 respondents (120 sixth graders and 229 ninth graders). The results have shown that more than 80 percent of the pupils have at some point heard about the children´s rights. However, the number is significantly lower for how many pupils that have heard about the Convention. Furthermore, the findings reveal clear differences between sixth and ninth graders where the sixth graders often are more aware of their rights. Differences can also be seen between the different schools that have been investigated. Additionally, the results show that a majority of the children would like to receive more information and the children give their own examples on creative ways of learning more such as different exercises and games.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ... 1
1.2Purpose and Research question ... 3
1.3Delimitations ... 3
1.4Structure ... 3
2. Theoretical Framework ... 4
2.1 Historical perspective on children´s rights ... 4
2.2 Why knowledge about the CRC is highly essential ... 5
2.3 Previous Research ... 6
3. Methodological Framework ... 9
3.1 Research Method ... 9 3.2 Research Design ... 10 3.3 Research Instrument ... 11 3.4 Sampling ... 12 3.5 Analysis Methods ... 143.5.1 Analysis of close-ended questions ... 14
3.5.2 Analysis of open-ended questions ... 15
4. Results ... 16
4.1 Awareness about Children´s Rights and the CRC ... 16
4.2 Education and Information about CRC ... 18
4.3 Knowledge about the Articles in the CRC ... 19
4.4 Children´s Perspective on Education about the CRC ... 21
4.5 Statistically Significant Relationship ... 23
5. Analysis ... 25
5.1 Awareness and Information about Children´s rights and the CRC ... 25
5.2 Children´s Perspective on the Education about CRC ... 27
6. Discussion ... 29
6.1 Discussion of Results ... 29
6.2 Discussion of Methods ... 30
6.3 Implication for Research and Practice ... 30
6.4 Future Research ... 31
List of References ... 32
Appendix A: Survey Questionnaire ... I
Appendix B: Enkätundersökning ... VIII
Table 1 -‐ Number of participants ... 14
Table 2 -‐ Have you ever heard about the Convention on the rights of the Child? 16
Table 3 -‐ Every child and young person has the right… ... 20
Table 4 -‐ Closed-‐ended survey questions 1-‐10 from SPSS ... 23
Table 5 -‐ Closed-‐ended survey questions 11-‐23 from SPSS ... 24
Figures
Figure 1 -‐ Have you ever received information about the Convention on the rights of a child? ... 18
Figure 2 -‐ Politicians, public authorities and courts should always consider what is best for children when they decide on matters related to children ... 21
Figure 3 -‐ In what way would you like to learn more about the Convention on the Rights of the Child ... 22
1. Introduction
In this chapter the background, purpose, research questions, structure, and delimitations are presented. The background introduces the reader to the topic, and the purpose limits the scope of the paper by defining the main area of investigation. To further specify what to expect from the paper, the research questions provide a common theme. They provide guidance to the reader and are answered at the end of this paper. The delimitations specifically exclude certain areas of interest that are not part of the research.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (henceforth referred to as the CRC) has been acknowledged across the world and is the most ratified of all the human rights treaties. The CRC has shown that the world has agreed upon a global unification around the views of children’s rights. With regard to that, children have been recognized as important social actors, at least compared to 26 years ago, before the ratification. Every single article in the CRC stands for protecting the children and should be emphasized in education and healthcare systems as well as in civil, legal and social services (Garbarino, 2011, p. 991). However despite the fact that countries have made commitments to follow the CRC there are still challenges remaining and further improvements that need to be made (Akengin, 2008, p. 237). Article 42, Knowledge of rights, states the following;
States Parties undertake to make the principles and provisions of the Convention widely known, by appropriate and active means, to adults and children alike
(UNGA, 1989, p. 19).
Knowledge and understanding of your rights is to be able to protect them at the same time as you are increasing your quality of life. How should you be able to enforce them if you do not know that you have them? It is therefore highly essential that these rights are being taught to children without any restrictions (Akengin, 2008, p. 237). This is one of the main concerns that need to be addressed. Almost every State that has signed the treaty has at some point been criticized and given recommendations by the Committee on the Rights of the Child to increase the awareness about the CRC among children (Vaghri, Arkadas, Kruse, & Hertzman, 2011, p. 180). Since the CRC has been in force for more than 26 years it has been argued that schools and non-governmental organizations (henceforth referred to as NGOs) should by now have made sure that every single child is aware of its existence and what it stands for (Laura Lundy, 2012, p. 393).
1.1 Problem
If children should be able to fight for their own rights then it is highly essential that parents and right holders make sure that children are aware of their rights and the CRC. However, today a concerning amount of children lack the correct knowledge about their own rights. Article 42 in the UNCRC is emphasizing the need to not only make the rights known among children but also adults. If the adults do not have enough or the accurate knowledge about children´s rights it is very likely that fewer children will comprehend them and what they imply (Mitchell, 2005, p. 316). Among other things it is highly crucial to make sure that the CRC is available in several languages, that the country has an approach were illiterate adults and children have access to it and that it is translated into a child friendly version so that even children in elementary school will be able to understand it (UNCRC, 2003, p. 18).
Every five years, all the States that have signed and ratified the CRC have to send in a report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child. After every country has submitted the report, a public hearing is held where representatives have to answer questions. Thereafter the Committee comments on the reports by making conclusions and recommendations, also known as Concluding Observations. In these reports, they highlight positive developments but they also give suggestions on improvements and flaws (Woll, 2000, p. 72). Sweden was given strong criticism both during year 2009 and 2014 on several parts. Among them were that the knowledge about the CRC is very low among children and that adults working with children´s rights have not received sufficient knowledge or training in this area. The Committee gave Sweden strong encouragements and recommendations to improvements so that every child will be able to defend their rights. Besides that, strong knowledge improvements have to be made among teachers, lawyers, social workers and anyone else working with children (UNCRC, 2009). In January 2009, the child Ombudsman of Sweden did a quantitative research among children between the age of 11 and 14. The results revealed that 22 percent of the children had heard about the CRC, 11 percent knew what the CRC was about and even fewer pupils knew that the CRC is a legally binding document. Moreover, the report showed that it is not clear in the Swedish school policy documents that children's rights are a mandatory part of the education. Furthermore, it once again confirmed that not enough adults have received sufficient or the correct knowledge but also that they do not have a child perspective in important matters (Malmberg, 2009, p. 12,25).
This shows that there is not enough information about children´s knowledge about the CRC. In this regard, to counter this situation it is reasonable to do the research how much knowledge children have about their rights and the CRC in a city, where this has not been done before in order to close the existing research gap.
1.2 Purpose and Research question
The purpose of the thesis at hand is to investigate children’s knowledge about their rights as mentioned in the CRC. In addition, we will examine in what way the children would like to be educated about the CRC and if they have received any education about it from their teachers.
This study aims at answering the following research questions:
Question 1: What knowledge do children in Sweden have about children´s rights? Question 2: What knowledge do children in Sweden have about the CRC?
Question 3: What differences can be seen between different gender and different grades?
Question 4: In what way would children wish to receive more information about their rights and the CRC?
1.3 Delimitations
This study solely focuses on children that are enrolled in the sixth and ninth grade. The country of investigation for this study is Sweden and will only investigate children from the city of Jönköping.
1.4 Structure
In this study, chapter 2, the theoretical framework, contains required information that is needed in order to easily understand the study and the subsequent chapters.
Chapter 3 describes the methodological framework. In this chapter, the methodological approach is both explained and justified. Moreover, the chapter provides the reader with information about the research design, research instrument, the sampling and reliability. The chapter is finalized by describing the analysis methods.
Chapter 4 consists of the results conducted during the study.
Chapter 5 analyses the results that are introduced in the previous chapter.
In conclusion, the last chapter, chapter 5, includes a discussion of the results and the method. In addition to that, the research questions that are presented above are answered. Finally, the chapter gives suggestions for further research.
2. Theoretical Framework
The first part of this chapter introduces an historical perspective on children´s rights. The second part of the chapter argues for why it is highly essential for children to have the correct knowledge and understanding of their rights. The chapter is finalized by presenting previous research that has been made in a similar area of investigation.
2.1 Historical perspective on children´s rights
For more than 2000 years, until the 19th century, children were seen as inferior adults. This meant that they were considered incompetent and always dependent upon their family and relatives. However this changed due to, among other things, the French revolution, the change from an agriculture society to an industrial and the family structure (Akengin, 2008, pp. 224–225).
During the First World War, children were suffering from the aftermath of the war. In regard to that, a woman named Eglantyne Jebb from England was one of the first to formulate the concept ‘children’s rights’. Jebb argued that every child had the right to live and that no child should die from preventable diseases. In 1919, she established the NGO Save the Children. However the first crucial change came in 1924 when The League of Nations established the Geneva Declaration on the Rights of the Child (Gnaerig & MacCormack, 1999, pp. 141–142). Three years after the founding of the United Nations, in 1948, the General Assembly introduced the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1997, p. 1). In this declaration, children´s rights were only mentioned briefly in the second part of article 25 as seen below.
1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothes, housing and medical care and necessary social services, an the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection (UNGA, 1948, p. 76).
Many people shared the opinion that the discussion about the rights of a child was finished because their needs and rights were included in article 25 of the declaration. However, frequent discussions followed and more and more people agreeing with Jebb’s opinions believed that children were particularly exposed in the communities and that they needed special rights exclusively addressing them (Verhellen, 1996, p. 308). A major step was made when the Declaration on the Rights of the Child was signed in 1959. The declaration included, among other things, a child´s right to have a name and nationality and the right to not be discriminated. Still people from all over the world and with different professions continued working on establishing a new
document. Through the years the group expanded to include international NGO’s such as Save the Children. Finally, in 1989, the General Assembly adopted the CRC (UNICEF, 2009, p. 2). The articles set forward in the CRC are intended to show respect and protect the value and dignity of every child under the age of 18 (Libal, Mapp, Ihrig, & Ron, 2011, p. 368). To date, more than 26 years after its establishment, it has had an tremendous impact on attitudes, practices, legislation and policies concerning children (UNICEF, 2009, p. 9).
2.2 Why knowledge about the CRC is highly essential
The CRC is a universal agreement, built on cultural traditions and different legal systems and the standards and obligations in the CRC are non-negotiable. The basic standards set the minimal rights and freedoms for each child and each government should respect these. The standards set forth in the CRC are built on respect for the worth and dignity of each child regardless of gender, race, religion and national or social origin. The standards are interconnected and also indivisible which means that it is not possible to guarantee some rights without considering the rest. The formation of the rights made it possible to apply them on every single child all over the world, and along with the rights comes an obligation for governments and individuals to respect and not encroach these rights. Every single right in the CRC stands for protecting the children and should be emphasized in education and healthcare systems as well as in civil, legal and social services (UNICEF, 2005, pp. 1–3).
The importance of children’s awareness of their rights as a citizen and as a child is strongly emphasized in the society. According to the CRC, children should be able to have the complete opportunity to participate in society, without any restrictions. By having the correct knowledge about their rights, they are able to stand up for them even if others deny them (Willenberg, Tenenbaum, & Ruck, 2014, p. 447). A child who knows that he or she, among other things, has the right to express his or her opinion freely and that adults should take their opinions into account, find it easier to do so. It has been shown in previous studies that this has resulted in more children standing up for their rights (Malmberg, 2009, p. 10).
Since the awareness about children’s wellbeing has grown as well as the movements for children's rights, investigations have not only been made to find out if children have the knowledge but also how they understand the concept of rights. In addition to that, for children to be able to take part of their rights and to be seen as equal it is essential that people working with children or adults around children have an understanding for the CRC (Lundy, 2007, pp. 930–931). Furthermore, a child’s knowledge and view upon their rights will not only depend on children’s rights education, but the society they grew up in may have had an impact on how they define and comprehend it. Therefore it is also important to compare the level of knowledge between children that live in different areas of a city and country (Khoury-Kassabri & Ben-Arieh, 2009, p. 97).
Implementing children´s rights as a part of the subjects in school has been widely discussed. Schools play an important role in children's lives, they are not only supposed to develop academic achievements but also to foster and support the students for their future. Citizenship education is in general considered to be a key method in supporting and enhancing human rights and democratic values and attitudes among children in the society, especially in schools. The education aims to comprise three standpoints: community involvement, political literacy and social and moral responsibility. With regard to that, through education, it is shown that children can, in a meaningful way, understand their responsibilities and rights. Concepts that have the capacity to improve their citizenship and everyday behavior but also their learning process in school (Covell, Howe, & McNeil, 2008, pp. 321–322). However, this does not mean that the rights should only be brought up briefly during the lectures, but on the other hand, that an entire lectures or workshops should be dedicated to working with this and increasing the knowledge. By letting the children be active and involved in decisions in schools and participate, it shows that they take part of their rights. Encouragement from teachers for the children to participate and express their feelings and opinions both in and outside of schools shows respect for children and their human rights (Khoury-Kassabri & Ben-Arieh, 2009, pp. 97–99). This will also result in them having a greater desire of helping people who are vulnerable in the society, among others, children in precarious living situations (Holland, 1998, pp. 173–179). In 2009 the government of Sweden proposed a new Education Act that emphasized the need to incorporate the CRC in every aspects of the education. This includes that all children and adults alike should have the correct
and accurate knowledge about children´s rights (Björklund, 2010, p. 230).
Results have shown that the awareness of civil participation and human rights among youths at a global level has grown. However, it is also essential to get an understanding into how children view their rights. Challenges to enforcing children’s rights have been acknowledged. In that regard, it is of great importance that their citizenship education strives to develop the abilities for children to advocate their rights (Willenberg et al., 2014, pp. 446–447).
2.3 Previous Research
In the field of children´s knowledge about their rights several previous studies have been made. Below both previous studies from Sweden and from other countries such as Canada and Turkey are presented.
Previous research in Sweden
A quantative questionnaire research that was made in Sweden among children in the age of 11-14 in the city of Stockholm about children´s knowledge about their rights (Malmberg, 2009, p. 21). In the study, Malmberg (2009) revealed that the children have a generally good knowledge about their rights. However, it showed that only 22 percent responded that they have the right to express their views and decide what they are being educated about. The study also investigated if children had ever heard about the CRC and 22 percent answered that they had heard about it and 17 percent that
they knew what it was about. However, on the contrary, when Malmberg (2009) compared the results with the same study that was made two years earlier it showed that made the amount of children that have knowledge has decreased since year 2007. Additionally, a significant difference between the 11 and 14 year old pupils was that a higher amount of the younger students knew what the CRC was about compared to the older ones. Furthermore, out of all the pupils that answered that they had heard about the CRC less than 50 percent answered that they had received the information from teachers (Malmberg, 2009, p. 21). In addition to that Save the Children Sweden did a research in 2014 concerning children´s perspectives on their rights in general among approximately 25.000 children. Compared to the previously mentioned research this one showed that 45 percent of the respondents had heard about the CRC (Douglas, 2014, p. 7). The main purpose with the quantitative study from Save the Children was however to let children give their own opinion on how they feel that their rights are being respected and observed. The emphasis was mainly on Article 3 from the CRC that is stating that every child’s best interest should be of primary concern. However, by concluding the results it is shown that more knowledge needs to be provided, not only among children but also among adults, especially since a high amount of the children stated that their rights are not respected enough (Douglas, 2014, p. 3).
Previous Research made outside of Sweden
In line with the research mentioned above, Mitchell (2005) conducted a qualitative research made, among other places, in a High school in Canada among pupils and staff members. The results revealed that barely any child or staff member knew what the CRC was about. Moreover, in the results that Mitchell (2005) presented it was show that that one of the pupils said that he wished that someone had taught him and his classmates earlier about the CRC, since he empathized that the children´s rights affects his life in every single aspect. In addition to that, Akengin (2008) describes in a research he made in Turkey that less than 50% of the students had read the CRC, either partly or the entire document. However this was a result from pupils that had taken a citizenship and human rights course at two different schools. Furthermore, Akangin (2008), illustrated in his results that 50 percent of the pupils that knew about CRC had responded that they believe that the CRC has been implemented within Turkey. However approximately 33 percent agreed upon that CRC had been implemented partially.
Considering the above-mentioned studies revealing children’s awareness of their rights, it becomes clear that none of the authors have investigated children’s perspectives on the education of children’s rights. According the research made by the child ombudsman, Malmberg (2009), it is not only crucial to conduct statistics about children and youths in Sweden but also to include children´s perspectives and opinions. In the research Malmberg (2009) is stating that the results showed that a majority of the children answered that adults do not take their opinion into matter
when they are making a decision that is concerning the children, among other things, how children should be educated about CRC.
With regard to this, none of the children in the above mentioned research have been asked how the information they received could have been more efficient, if they would like to receive more information about the CRC and in what way they would like to receive it. In regard to that, the previous studies mentioned above show
the gap of knowledge and what needs to be further investigated. Therefore, the previous studies, specially the ones from Sweden, will be used as a framework and theory in this research. This is mainly done since some of the questions that have been used in previous studies considering knowledge about the CRC will be used in this research as well. This might include questions about if children have heard about the CRC and from whom they have received the information. This will be done in order to compare the findings from this study and to see if children´s awareness has increased.
3. Methodological Framework
In this chapter, the research method is introduced and justified. In the second part of the chapter, the research design and the limitations are presented. The third part is introducing the research instrument. Furthermore the sampling process is presented and explained. To finalize, the reached confidence and the analysis methods are presented.
3.1 Research Method
Within quantitative research designs there are a variety of different ways to collect data. Some of the most used methods are case studies and surveys. However while case studies investigate something that is happening the survey is covering a wider variety of topics (Balnaves & Caputi, 2001, p. 66). Surveys are commonly used when investigating a specific population instead of just one individual. The data collected can therefore show opinions and attitudes that will make it possible to draw valid conclusions and generalize from the specific population (Calder, 1998, p. 638). However, there is awareness that by using surveys the response rate might be higher, compared to other methods such as interviews (Vogt, Gardner, & Haeffele, 2012, p. 15) Therefore, to counter this problem the ultimate thing was to use anonymous questionnaires. Specifically, group surveys using anonymous questionnaires were conducted. The reason for this is that it was more cost effective and a high amount of respondents could be reached in a short period of time. Furthermore, the method is the most beneficial if the data is obtained among a group of people that often meet in a context (Hjerm, Lindgren, & Nilsson, 2014a, p. 168). Thus, the choice was made to conduct the survey among pupils in a classroom during school days. By doing group surveys it is also considered to result in a higher response frequency. With regard to that the distributor of the surveys can make sure that the pupils are not discussing the questions with each other. Furthermore, when web surveys are collected the respondents do not have the possibility of asking the researcher to explain a question that she or he might not understand. With regard to that, especially since children were a part of the study, it was once again more beneficial to conduct it in a classroom.
The benefits of using quantitative research designs are that they are very reliable. However, only if the collected amount of responses is enough. The data collected are based on facts and by analyzing them based on statistic and mathematical principles will increase the reliability. Furthermore the results given shows measured quantities more than impressions and interpretations and can be analyzed and presented in tables and figures in an effective and concise way (Denscombe, 2009, p. 364).
The schools were directly contacted by visiting the principals or the responsible teachers for each grade at all schools and appointments were made the same or the
following week. The questionnaire was distributed directly to the children in one class at a time. Before the survey, the respondents were also been informed that only the person that distributed the questionnaire will be collecting them and nobody else will have access to the gathered information throughout the entire thesis. This has been done in order to increase the confidentiality so that the children responding to the survey will not have any doubts that anyone can identify their identity by their handwriting (Ejlertsson, 2014). Furthermore, all the students have voluntarily participated in the study and they have been informed that they, at any time without any explanation, can withdraw from the survey.
3.2 Research Design
In addition to that, it is crucial to have a good layout on the questionnaire. It is out of essence that the layout should include in what way the participants have been selected, the purpose of the study, but also, as mentioned before, to assure the participants that confidentiality will be maintained through the entire survey. The authors Balnaves and Caputi (2001) are stating and highlighting the importance of how the questions should be answered without any doubt or difficulties. Furthermore, they also emphasize the need of always having easy questions first and complex questions in the end (Balnaves & Caputi, 2001, p. 66).
In addition to that it is also essential that the language used in the questionnaires are adapted to the target group but also that the questions are designed in a suitable way for them with an applicable vocabulary. Since the data were collected in Swedish schools, the questionnaires were written in Swedish. However all the results were translated in this paper. Furthermore the layout of the questions in the questionnaires are influential, by using “closed questions” the participants already have given answers to the questions, therefore it is crucial to apply some “open questions” where the students can give their own opinion on the topic. Furthermore open question can be used as a compliment to the original questions to prevent the answers from being angled (Ejlertsson, 2014, pp. 52–54).
Before the survey was distributed among the pupils, eight pupils (four from sixth grade and four from ninth grade) from different schools in Jönköping were randomly chosen to take part of the survey. This was done in order to see if the pupils understood the questions, how long it took for them finish the questionnaire and if any further changes had to be made.
3.3 Research Instrument
The research instrument that has been used in this study is a group questionnaire. The questionnaire has in most cases required short answers since these have been sufficient to gather the required data (Vogt et al., 2012).
(1) The first page of the questionnaire contains the purpose of the questionnaire, information about the confidentiality, and the information that the participants can choose to withdraw from the questionnaire without stating any reason. In addition to that, it also contains general information about the respondent, such as gender, grade and which school they are enrolled in.
(2) The second page contains five questions that asked the children if they had ever heard about children´s rights, if they had ever heard about the CRC and what it comprehends. Furthermore, they are asked if they believe that it is important to have knowledge about their rights and to motivate their answer. This is an open-ended question and the pupils have the opportunity to give their own opinion. Finally they were asked if anyone had told them about the CRC.
(3) If the respondents answer yes on the previous question they are asked whom they received the information from and what they learned from it. The pupils that respond no to the question ‘Have you ever received information on the Convention on the rights of the child’ are requested to skip the following three questions and continue after that. Additionally the third page is also focusing on children´s knowledge about organizations that are working with children´s rights. In the second part of the third page the pupils are requested to indicate the level of their agreement to several statements that start with ‘A child has the right to…’. Besides that, the page incorporates a question about the best interests of the child in decisions made by adults.
(4) On the fourth and fifth page the pupils are continuing to indicate the level of their agreement to several statements that start with ‘A child has the right to…’.
(6) The sixth page continues with three additional statements that the children are indicating their level of agreement to. Finally at the end of the page they are asked which right they considered to be the most important one.
(7) At the seventh and final page the children are asked if they would like to receive more information about the CRC and their rights. Furthermore they are given the opportunity to describe in what way they would like to receive more information through an open-ended question.The survey is concluded by providing a few lines additional comments.
As seen above, the questionnaire is comprised of both open-ended and closed-ended questions. Some of the questions are designed as partially opened questions.
3.4 Sampling
In the previous part of the chapter the research instrument was presented. However, it is not just crucial to have well written questions in the right order. It is equally important to decide who will answer the questions. This depends on which specific part of the population that will participate in the survey (Hjerm et al., 2014a, p. 179). It is crucial to carefully choose the most appropriate sampling method before deciding on who will participate in the survey. A stratified sampling method is a method that gives every person in the specified population the same possibility of being chosen, relative to their share of the total population. Moreover, the stratified method is based on random sampling. However, it does apply certain frames on the sampling process and thereafter the principle of random selection is applied within these frames. Thus, stratified sample is a mixture between random selection and selection on the basis of
certain characteristics or intentions (Denscombe, 2009, p. 33-34). Every country that
has ratified the CRC is required to spread information and increase the knowledge about children´s rights. Sweden has several times been given strong criticism. One of the criticisms refers to the children in Sweden not having enough knowledge about CRC (UNCRC, 2009). Therefore Sweden was chosen as the country of investigation, to see what knowledge pupils in Sweden have and if it has increased. Specifically, within the Jönköping municipality different action plans have been implemented in order to increase the knowledge among children. However, no research has been made where children´s knowledge about the CRC has been investigated (Länstinget Region Jönköping Län, 2014). Therefore, the choice was made to specifically investigate Swedish pupils that are enrolled in the sixth and ninth grade in the city of Jönköping. In addition to that, the city of Jönköping was also chosen based on a
convenience sample, which can be defined as a sample in which research participants are selected based on their ease of availability and proximity (Denscombe, 2009, p. 39). The pupils within this sampling frame are spread across several schools within the city. Therefore the best option for this study was to choose a stratified sampling method. Within this regard it was important to first determine the total amount of pupils that are enrolled in the sixth grade and ninth grade in the Jönköping municipality. According to a statistic by SiRis (2014) there are in total 1381 pupils within the sixth grade and 1351 enrolled pupils in the ninth grade in the city of Jönköping. Therefore, the schools were narrowed down to eight schools that are located in five different geographical areas of the city. These schools were specifically chosen because they are located in areas of the city with different socioeconomic differences. Furthermore, the choice of schools was also based on them having the school for sixth grade pupils and nine grade pupils either in the same building or close to each other. Sixth grade and ninth grade pupils were chosen since previous research, such as the one Malmberg (2009) conducted, has been done with pupils in specifically these grades. Additionally it was chosen because the sixth grade
is the last year of middle school in Sweden and ninth grade is the last grade in the secondary school. Within that regard, it was believed that the gap of three years between the pupils might show more differences than if the age gap would have been smaller. When the schools were contacted only six out of eight agreed upon participating in the survey. Thus, sixth schools from four different areas participated in the survey. Two of the schools had both sixth grade and ninth grade students in the same school (Rosenlundsskolan and Ljungarumsskolan). The four remaining schools (Råslättskolan, Stadsgårdsskolan, Talavidskolan and Junedalskolan) were located in two different areas with two schools in each area, one school for the pupils in sixth grade and one school for the pupils in ninth grade. In each area the schools were situated next to each other. For the sample to be reliable and representative it was crucial to include a similar amount of pupils from all classes. A sixth grade class and three ninth grades classes were chosen from each school. This choice was made since the schools had between one and two sixth grade classes and between three to five ninth grade classes. Since a stratified sampling was used the classes within the schools were chosen randomly. Which mean that since the schools with ninth graders had more pupils than the sixth graders, the sampling was made so that more pupils from the ninth grade participated. Finally, the stratified sample was chosen so that the result would strive for the selected pupils to be representative for their grade (Hjerm, Lindgren, & Nilsson, 2014b, p. 181).
In total, this study’s sample consisted out of 355 respondents. Out of these, six respondents did not completely finish the survey or did not answer the survey seriously and were therefore filtered out. Within this in regard, the pupils that were filtered out came from three different schools, (three from Junedalskolan, two from Stadsgårdsskolan and one from Talavidskolan). The total amount of pupils that participated in the study, 349 pupils, is presented below in Table 1. The upper part of Table 1 illustrates the amount of sixth grade pupils from each class. While the lower part of the Table presents the amount of respondents from each school that are enrolled ninth grade pupils. At the end of the Table the total amount from each grade is illustrated. This accounts to, 120 pupils from sixth grade (8.6 percent of the specific population) and 229 pupils from the ninth grade (17 percent of the specific population).
Participating schools Amount of pupils
Sixth grade Ninth grade
Ljungarumsskolan 38 Råslättskolan 36 Talavidskolan 26 Rosenlundsskolan 20 Rosenlundsskolan 61 Ljungarumsskolan 53 Stadsgårdsskolan 52 Junedalskolan 63 120 229 ∑ 349
Table 1 -‐ Number of participants
3.5 Analysis Methods
As illustrated in the research instrument the two different question types that have been used are close-ended and open-ended questions. The analyses of the questions create the link between the data that has been obtained and the research questions. 3.5.1 Analysis of close-ended questions
This questionnaire has mainly focused on ended questions. A survey with close-ended questions is providing the respondents with several predefined answers that they have responded to by checking a box. The answers can include either a simple answer such as yes/ no or male/ female. However, it can also contain several different options, such as strongly agree/ agree/ neither agree nor disagree/ disagree/ strongly disagree (Pallant, 2005, pp. 7–8). All of the above mentioned options have been used in the questionnaire. Furthermore, in order to statistically analyze the responses and find significant relationships all of the answers should be given a number such as 1=male and 2=female (Hjerm et al., 2014a, pp. 99–100). In this study it has also been crucial to examine how different variables has had an impact on another variable. In order to do this simple regression analysis is used, which will then shows the association between the independent variable and the dependent variable (Wahlgren, 2008, p. 124). However, since this survey constitutes of more than one independent variable a multiple regression analysis has been used in order to combine the independent variables (gender and grade) with the dependent variable (answers of the questions) to determine possible significant relations. The most important difference between a simple regression and a multiple regression analysis is that the multiple analyses looks at the combination of various variables instead of one to predict the outcome (Wahlgren, 2008, p. 131). The two different independent variables that were used were chosen in order to see if gender and grade has had a significant impact on
the dependent variables. A multiple regression analysis has been made for each specific close-ended question that was included in the survey. Furthermore, if it shows that the significance is less than 0.05 it means that the variable has had an statistically significant impact on the sample (Francis & Garing, 2013, pp. 40–41). Furthermore, a b-coefficient will indicate how the independent variable impacts the dependent variable. As mentioned above, the pupils had different options when answering the survey (strongly agree/ agree/ neither agree nor disagree/ disagree/ strongly disagree). Therefore the b-coefficient indicates how the knowledge will change on the same scale as the answers numbered from 1-5, where strongly agree is number one and strongly disagree is number five. In this regard, the b-coefficient will indicate how many units the dependent variable will change moving between 1-5. All of the statistical analyses have been administered by using the software program SPSS Statistics version 21 by IBM.
3.5.2 Analysis of open-ended questions
Even though the survey used in this study has focused on closed-ended questions it has still been crucial to include open-ended questions. The open-ended questions give the respondent the opportunity to express their own opinions, without having pre-defined answers that have been provided. In this regard, the respondent will not be influenced by the researcher and therefore provide additional data to the study with a diverse set of answers (Reja, Lozar Manfreda, Hlebec, & Vehovar, 2003, pp. 159– 160). The difference between the closed-ended and open-ended questions is that the open-ended ones cannot be analyzed and divided into numeric values. Therefore, the data needs to be coded and thereafter divided into categories depending on how they relate to each other. This is done in order to “contribute to knowledge in the area of interest and suggestions for practice, teaching, and future research.” (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005, p. 1280)
4. Results
In the following chapter the results from the data that has been collected is presented. The survey was designed so that it covered four main areas. Therefore this chapter will be divided according to them.
4.1 Awareness about Children´s Rights and the CRC
On the first part of the questionnaire the students were asked to answer the following question ‘Have you ever heard about children’s rights?’. The results show that 82 percent of all participants had heard about it. However, differences can be seen between the two grades where 91 percent of the sixth graders have heard about their rights, compared to 77 percent of the ninth graders. Additionally it shows, that the majority of all respondents have at some point heard about children´s rights. Furthermore, the first part of the survey incorporated the question ‘Have you ever heard about the Convention on the rights of the Child?’. The results are illustrated below in Table 2. The Table shows the amount of students that answered ‘yes’ on the question. Once again, the results reveal that a higher percentage of pupils from the sixth grade (76 percent) compared to the ninth grade pupils (45 percent) answered yes on the question.
Participating schools Amount of pupils in percent
Sixth grade Ninth grade
Ljungarumsskolan 68 Råslättskolan 81 Talavidskolan 88 Rosenlundsskolan 55 Rosenlundsskolan 23 Ljungarumsskolan 70 Stadsgårdsskolan 42 Junedalskolan 67 76 45 ∑ 55
Table 2 -‐ Have you ever heard about the Convention on the rights of the Child?
As seen in Table 2 the schools with sixth grade pupils Talavidskolan and Råslättskolan have a higher amount of pupils that have answered yes compared to Ljungarumsskolan and Rosenlundsskolan. When examining the results from the ninth graders clear differences can be revealed between the schools. Ljungarumsskolan (70 percent) and Junedalskolan (67 percent) have a similar amount of pupils that responded yes and have the highest number among the ninth graders. However, the
schools Stadsgårdsskolan (42 percent) and Rosenlundsskolan (23 percent) have a significantly lower number of respondents. The total amount of respondents that have heard about the CRC is 55 percent. In addition to that, the students were asked if they knew what the CRC is about. Out of the 55 percent that answered that they had heard about CRC only one third of the students knew what it was about. Just as in the previous two questions, a higher amount of sixth graders answered that they knew what the CRC is about (sixth grades 45 percent, ninth grades 21 percent).
Furthermore, the children were asked if they think that it is important to know about the CRC and children´s rights. This question was an open-ended question. More than 80 percent of the pupils answered that they think that it is important. The remaining 20 percent either answered that they did not know or that they did not think that it is important. Three of the pupils responded that they do think that it is important to know about children´s rights, but maybe not that much for children in Sweden compared to other countries that are not that wealthy. Another student stated that it might not be necessary to educate about children´s rights in Sweden since it is something you learn when you are a child from your parents, even though the parents might not specifically mention the CRC.
From each participating class at least 3-4 pupils wrote that it is important because all the children are equally worth. Since the children were asked to motivate their answer a variety of answers were collected. Some of the answers that show the children´s different opinion are presented below
Yes, I do believe that it is important, but it is not enough to only know about the children´s rights, you have to respect them as well, which I do not believe that everyone does in Sweden. - Male, ninth grade
Yes, I do think that. Children can be forgotten about if everyone does not know that children have rights. – Female, sixth grade
Yes I do think that it is important to know about children´s rights. How should you otherwise know what you have the right to do and not. Because if someone treats you badly you have to know if you have the right to stand up for yourself and for other youths and children. But it does not feel like the teachers are caring about it that much, to teach us about it, since I have only heard about children´s rights a bit and I think that it is the same for my friends. – Female, ninth grade I read in a magazine about children´s rights that we received at home. And I remember that it was written that all the children in the world should have equal rights, all children should be treated equally and that it is important that children can express their thoughts. So then I guess that it has to be important to know about children´s rights. –Female, ninth grade
Yes I do think so, because you feel more safe if you know about your rights –
In addition to that, the results showed that approximately 17 percent of all the respondents wrote that it is equally important for both children and adults to have knowledge about the rights. Another pattern that was clear was that at least three students in each class answered that they believe that it is important because the rights are including them, the children and youths. However, a clear difference could be seen between girls and boys. Out of the 20 percent that answered that they did not think it was important or wrote that they did not know approximately 95 percent of them were boys. In addition to that, a majority of the girls wrote longer answers and more than 90 percent motivated why they believe that it is important or not. On the contrary, a majority of the boys answered shortly and a lower percentage motivated their answer.
4.2 Education and Information about CRC
In the second part of the survey, the pupils were asked if anyone had told them about the CRC. The results varied both between schools, classes but also gender. In total 38 percent of the respondents indicated that they had received information about the CRC. Among those, differences between girls and boys were revealed were the girls had a 30 percent higher response rate than boys (girls 68 percent, boys 38 percent). The results below show the amount of pupils, in percentage that indicated that they had received information about the CRC.
Figure 1 -‐ Have you ever received information about the Convention on the rights of a child?
As demonstrated in Figure 1 the results discovered show that pupils from all schools except Ljungarumsskolan have a higher amount of sixth graders than ninth graders that answered yes. On the contrary, Ljungarumsskolan had approximately 20 percent more pupils from the ninth grade that answered yes. The differences between sixth and ninth graders within the two schools that are located in the city center of
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% Ljungarumsskolan
Råslättsskolan/ Stadsgårdsskolan Rosenlundsskolan Talavidskolan/ Junedalskolan
Have you ever received information about the Convention on the rights of a child?
Jönköping, Talavidskolan and Junedalskolan (ninth graders), is only nine percent. On the other hand, clear differences are viewed between the sixth and ninth graders at Råslättskolan (19 percent) and Stadsgårdsskolan (58 percent). In the same way, a 35 percent difference is revealed between the grades in Rosenlundsskolan. Furthermore, if the pupils answered that they had received information about CRC they were requested to answer from whom they had received information. Out of the pupils that responded yes, 70 percent indicated that they had received their information from teachers. In addition to that, 51 percent had received the information from family or relatives, 10 percent from friends and 12 percent had received their information from other sources such as different social media. In this regard, the results show that some pupils indicated that they had received information from several sources.
Additionally, out of the pupils that had received information from teachers 19 percent answered that it was really good, 56 percent thought it was good, while 10 percent said that it was bad and 5 percent answered that it was really bad, the rest of the pupils had no opinion about the education about CRC in the schools.
Finally, the pupils were asked if they are aware of any organizations working with increasing the knowledge about CRC. Out of the total amount of respondents from all schools 20 percent could mention at least one organization. The organizations that were mentioned were; United Nations were three pupils specifically wrote UNICEF, Save the Children, Red Cross, Friends and World´s Children´s Prize. The number of students that answered was quite similar between the two areas with the schools Råslätt- and Stadsgårdsskolan and Talavid- and Junedalskolan. All four schools had at least four pupils from each class that knew an organization. However the number of respondents was significantly lower at Ljungarumsskolan and Rosenlundsskolan, with approximately 50 percent less respondents compared to the other schools. Furthermore, it was once again shown that, a majority of the pupils from all schools that answered that they knew an organization and named at least one, were pupils from the sixth grade.
4.3 Knowledge about the Articles in the CRC
In the third part of the survey the children were asked if they think that all children are equally worth and have the same rights, the results show that 95 percent of the pupils answered yes to the question. However, one of the pupils that answered yes on the question additionally wrote;
Every child should be equally worth and have the same rights, but it does not reflect the reality. -Female, Ninth grade
In the third part of the survey the children were asked to indicate their level of agreement to several statements that start with ‘Every child and young person has the right to...’ Table 3 illustrates in percentage how many of the total amount of respondents that strongly agree to the statement.
Every child and young person has the right... %
… to feel safe 95
… to attend school 94
… to play 94
… to receive help when they are sick 91
… to believe in any religion and god they want 91
… to their privacy being respected 90
… to receive information about their rights 89
… to live and develop 88
… to not be beaten 88
… to give their own opinion 80
Table 3 -‐ Every child and young person has the right…
As the results reveal more than 90 percent of the students strongly agreed to the majority of the statements. The statement that most pupils agreed to was ‘Every child has the right to feel safe’. However, to the statement ‘Every child has the right to give their own opinion’ 20 percent of the respondents did not strongly agree. Furthermore, when looking at the results, differences can be seen between girls and boys. Even though the difference on how many percentages that strongly agrees is not differencing more than 10 percent between the girls and boys on any question, there is always a higher amount of girls than boys.
Furthermore, the children were asked to indicate their level of agreement to the statement ‘Politicians, public authorities and courts should always consider what is best for children when they decide on matters related to children’. Figure 2 below show the results from respondents. A total amount of 71 percent strongly agreed, while 19 percent somewhat agreed, six percent neither agreed nor disagreed and four percent disagreed. One of the pupils that answered that she somewhat agreed additionally wrote;
Most often, you should think about what is best for the child, but if a child's parents for example is sentenced to go to prison then the child might not be happy about it, but then you cannot free the parent only because the child wishes so. – Female, Ninth grade
Finally, out of the pupils that answered that they had never heard about the CRC the majority strongly agreed to most of the statements in Table 3.
Figure 2 -‐ Politicians, public authorities and courts should always consider what is best for children when they
decide on matters related to children
At the end of the third part of the survey the pupils were asked to write down which right they think is the most important one. A total of 40 percent of the pupils responded that the right to attend school is the most important right. Except that, pupils from all schools and both grades mentioned the right to live and develop, the right to not be beaten and the right to feel safe. However, only pupils from Stadsgårdsskolan and Ljungarumsskolan mentioned that the right to give your own opinion was the most important right. Additionally, a clear difference that could be noticed was that at least two pupils from each sixth grade class responded that the right to be free from child labor was the most essential one. On the contrary, not a single pupil from the ninth grade mentioned this right.
4.4 Children´s Perspective on Education about the CRC
In the last part of the survey, the children were asked if they would like to receive more information about the CRC. In total 72 percent of the participants answered that they would like to receive more information. Furthermore, the results once again showed differences between pupils in the sixth grade (82 percent) and pupils that are enrolled in the ninth grade (68 percent), this accounts to the respondents that answered that they would like to receive more information. In addition to that, a difference between the two genders was also revealed in the results. Among the girls, 84 percent answered that they would like to have more knowledge in comparison with the boys where 62 percent answered yes.
In addition, the students who answered that they would like further information about CRC had the chance to choose in what way they would prefer to receive the information. The results show that most students referred to the options already given. As presented in Figure 3 the highest amount of students, from both grades preferred to
71% 19%
6% 4%
Politicians, public authorities and courts should always consider what is best for children when they decide on
matters related to children
Strongly agree Somewhat agree
Neither agree nor disagree Disagree
have lectures about the CRC. In total this accounts to 41 percent of the respondents. However, as illustrated in Figure 3 up to 47 percent of the students from ninth grade indicated that they would prefer lectures compared to approximately 34 percent of the sixth graders. The same is shown in how many respondents that answered that they would like to have themed days. As demonstrated below, this accounts to approximately 28 percent of the ninth graders and 23 percent of the sixth graders. Students gave examples of lectures they would like to have both from teachers but also from educated people from different organizations such as Save the Children and BRIS.
Figure 3 -‐ In what way would you like to learn more about the Convention on the Rights of the Child Furthermore, 26 percent of the sixth graders preferred to perform different games in order to learn it. On the contrary this category was the lowest among the ninth graders. Additionally, both grades gave suggestions on different exercises when learning about the CRC. Since this was an open-ended question the pupils had several different ideas for exercises such as reading a book about CRC and thereafter answering some questions. Additionally, they suggested that every pupil should learn about one specific article, write a paper about it and thereafter have an oral presentation in front of the class. Furthermore, one of the pupils stated that exercises would be the best and most fun way to learn about the CRC, however only if someone from the outside of the school came to the class. The reason for this being that the teachers should participate and learn about it as much as the pupils. As seen above, the amount of students that suggested different exercises was approximately the same between the two different grades. However, 5 percent of the students gave other examples such as, movie, theater and quizzes about CRC.
Finally, the pupils had the chance to write down any remaining comments that they had. The answers from the pupils are presented below.
I do not know anything about the Convention on the Rights of the Child but now I want to know everything! – Female, Ninth grade
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% Ninth Grade
Sixth Grade
In what way would you like to learn more about the Convention on the Rights of the Child
Games Exercises Themed days Lecture
Even though I have heard about the Convention on the Rights of the Child I do no really not know much about it. I think that we should get more folders with information and exercises about this.- Female, Sixth grade
According to me every child should have equal rights but I do not think that all children and youths know about our rights or what the Convention on the Rights of the Child is about. That is why I think that it is important to tell all the children about it! - Female, Sixth grade
I felt a bit bad when I tried to answer the questions since I had never heard about children´s rights or the Convention on the Rights of the Child before. I do not know if the reason is that the teachers have never said anything about it. -
Female, Ninth grade
I think that the Convention on the Rights of the Child and children´s rights are really important and good – you are doing a great job. This was fun! – Female,
Sixth grade
4.5 Statistically Significant Relationship
In order to see how one variable affects another, as presented in the methodology, a multiple regression analysis was adapted. As illustrated below in Table 4 two different independent variables have been used, gender and grade. Moreover, calculations have been made to see how the pupils’ gender and what grade they are in affects how much knowledge they have about CRC. A multiple regression analysis has been made for each specific close-ended question that was asked in the survey, and are presented in Table 4 and 5. Furthermore, if the significance, presented as sig in the Table below, is less than 0.05 it means that the variable has an impact on the sample. Within this regard, it indicates the impact gender and grade has had on how the pupils have answered. The results where the significance is equal or lower than 0.05 are marked in bold below. Furthermore, Table 4 and 5 is also presenting the b-coefficient, B, which represent how the knowledge among the pupils will change. In cases where the significance is lower the 0.05, the b-coefficient determine the level. All cases presented below, with a significance lower than 0.05 shows a positive change for the b-coefficient. In addition to that, the lower significance the higher association.
Gender Grade
B Sig B Sig
Awareness about Children's rights 0,092 0,166 0,190 0,007
Awareness about the CRC 0,057 0,420 0,377 0,000
Knowledge about the CRC -0,064 0,357 0,252 0,001
Received info about the CRC -0,234 0,063 0,179 0,174
Info from teachers in school -0,022 0,849 0,118 0,332
Opinion about the info received 0,025 0,713 0,257 0,000
Info from family/relatives/friends -0,065 0,607 0,590 0,000
Every child is equally worth 0,025 0,535 0,013 0,754
As presented in Table 4, on the first eight questions, gender has no significant impact for the respondents. Which means that there is no association between the independent variable (gender) and the dependent variable (question one to eight). However, the variable grades show some significance importance on the sample. Moreover, on the first three questions, awareness about children\s rights, CRC and what the CRC includes, an association between the variables can be seen. Furthermore, on the question where student got their information about CRC from it shows no significant importance. However what they think about the education and if they received information from family, relatives or friends all shows a low significant.
Gender Grade
Every child and young person has the right… B Sig B Sig
… to live and develop 0,730 0,348 0,165 0,043
… to receive help when they are sick 0,190 0,000 0,023 0,689
… to attend school 0,162 0,001 0,118 0,021
… to not be beaten 0,100 0,221 0,053 0,540
… to feel safe 0,049 0,165 0,037 0,320
… to receive info about their rights 0,149 0,001 0,014 0,765
… to give their own opinion 0,206 0,015 0,152 0,087
… to play 0,065 0,099 0,033 0,426
… to believe in any religion and god 0,211 0,003 0,080 0,281
… to their privacy being respected 0,036 0,375 0,031 0,470
Best interests of the child 0,285 0,009 0,096 0,404
Further info about the CRC 0,218 0,000 0,139 0,004
Table 5 -‐ Closed-‐ended survey questions 11-‐23 from SPSS
Table 5 indicates that on five of the questions ‘Every child and young person has the
right...’ pupils with different gender show significant importance. However, at the two
dependent variables, ‘Every child has the right to attend school’ and ‘Further info about the CRC’, both gender and grade show significant importance. Finally, most of the results in both Table 4 and 5 did not reveal a statistically significant effect on gender and grade.
