Cross-Cultural Study on the Rights of the Child in Slovenia

Abstract

In the introduction to this article, a brief outline of this small mid-European country and young democracy is given. Also, Children's Parliament is described, as an example of cooperation of the state and of the non-governmental organizations in the field of children's rights. In the main section, main findings of the CrossCultural Study on the Rights of the Child are presented. In the years 1991 to 1992, we interviewed a nationally representative sample of children aged 12-14 years and 16-18 years, their teachers and school counsellors. We found the survey instruments to be reliable and age-sensitive. WVhile developmental differences regarding students are well documented, the adults in our sample did not follow the changes accordingly-middle school students are seen as being just as much 'children' as the elementary school students. A number of other findings are also discussed. In the years 1994 to 1995 we carried out a new pilot study where we tested several possible improvements of the survey instrument. Some of them are used in the questionnaires that are being used in the 2000-2001 survey sweep.