The Effectiveness of an Implemented Human Rights Course Designed around Non- Governmental Organizations
Keywords:
Human rights education, non-governmental institutions, constructivism, teacher trainingAbstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of prospective teachers regarding a human rights course that introduces non-governmental organizations. The participants in this action research study were one-hundred prospective teachers (69 females and 31 males) who were enrolled in the Human Rights course consisted two similar groups, each consisting of 50 students. The same procedures were applied to both groups. Quantitative and qualitative data was obtained by means of close and open ended items through a questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics and thematic analysis were performed for the analysis of the data. The results show that employing a NGO- based course greatly affected the students in that they recognized the relationship between human rights and NGOs. No significant difference was found in the prospective teachers’ perceptions about the NGOs in relation to the gender or NGO membership variables. The results also yielded positive and significant responses regarding the constructivist implementation of this course designed around the NGOs. The findings of this action research leads to conclude that, the prospective teachers realize the great contributions of the NGOs to the human rights field. Findings also suggest that teaching-learning process designed around constructivist pedagogy should be offered to other departments in teacher training institutions.Downloads
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