Child-friendly schools: An assessment of secondary schools

Abstract

As education has many variables, essential arrangements are required in different areas to enhance its quality. School buildings, environmental arrangements, teaching and learning process, sources and materials, teachers, principals, health and security are the variables of which come to mind first. The concept of 'child-friendly school (CFS)' which was initiated and attempted to actualize by UNICEF’s studies, has a nature including all these variables listed above and even more. The current study tires to identify to what extend the teachers, the principals and the secondary school students (5th to 8th grades) perceive their school as child-friendly. The mixed method approach was chosen for the study. The quantitative data was collected with 'Child-Friendly School Scale (CFSS)' developed by the researchers. A total of 54 schools and 4007 students comprise the sample, and the scale was implemented in one class from each grade level chosen randomly. The qualitative data were obtained from the volunteer teachers. Results revealed that the CFS characteristics of the schools changed according to the socioeconomic level of the school, gender of the students and the grade level. It can be suggested to construct a sense of awareness for the child-friendly school concept, to provide the continuity of the arrangements and to make them functional.