Study title

Children's Rights 2010

Dataset ID Number

FSD2554

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2554

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Ministry of Education and Culture. Policy programme for the well-being of children, youth and families

Other Identification/Acknowledgements

• Nikunlaakso, Risto (Taloustutkimus)

Abstract

The survey studied public knowledge and awareness of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Finland. At first, the respondents were told about the Finnish Goverment's policy programme for the well-being of children, youth and families which aims to increase the knowledge of the Convention. The respondents were asked whether they had heard of the UN Convention.

The respondents who had heard of the Convention on the Rights of the Child were presented with a number of statements and asked whether these statements were included in the Convention. The statements were: the UN Convention imposes a legal requirement for the State and municipalities to implement the rights; all children below the age of 18 years are entitled to the rights; it requires the State to inform citizens about the Convention; improves children's chances to participate in decision-making concerning themselves; when making decisions concerning a child the child's best interest shall always be primary consideration; in each country, only children born in that country are entitled to the rights; the Convention diminishes the responsibility of the parents to care for the child; guarantees the child's right to rest, play and leisure; requires that all schools inform pupils about the Convention; requires that the child shall be protected from all forms of violence and abuse.

All respondents were asked whether they agreed with a number of statements regarding to what extent children can participate in decision-making concerning themselves. The statements included, for example: adults can make better decisions if they take children's opinions into account; parents already listen to children's opinions to a sufficient degree; pre-school children are too young to have a say; children can influence matters concerning themselves sufficiently at school; children and young people are too seldom heard in decision-making concerning themselves; it is good that schools have pupil councils where pupils can influence matters; pupils should have a say when the school yard is to be improved; municipal youth councils should have more power; children and young people are too vocal as it is; voting age should not be lowered for municipal elections.

Background variables included the respondent's age, gender, education, economic activity and occupational status, type of contract, marital status, economic activity and occupational status of the person with the highest income in the household, household composition, number and age of children, number of persons in the household, gross annual income of the household, consumer durables in the household, type of accommodation, number of inhabitants and type of municipality, province, region and R's use of Internet.

Keywords

children; decision making; human rights; school-student relationship; student participation; voting

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Social welfare policy (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Taloustutkimus

Data Producers

• Ministry of Education and Culture. Policy programme for the well-being of children, youth and families

Time Period Covered

2010

Collection Dates

2010-01-14 – 2010-01-31

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

People aged 15 - 79 living in Finland (excluding the Åland Islands)

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Non-probability: Quota

Quota sampling based on national age, gender, municipality type and province distributions. The sample was weighed to population distributions. Altogether 1028 persons were interviewed. Interviews were conducted in 79 municipalities of which 46 were cities/towns and 33 other types of municipalities.

Collection Mode

Face-to-face interview

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

1.0

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Ministry of Education and Culture: Children's Rights 2010 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2010-09-06). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2554

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Publications

Lasten, nuorten ja perheiden hyvinvoinnin politiikkaohjelma. Lapsen oikeudet -kampanja. Taulukkoraportti (2010). Helsinki: Taloustutkimus. http://www.minedu.fi/export/sites/default/lapset_nuoret_perheet/lapsenoikeudet/pdf/LSKL_Lasten_oikeudet_taulukkoraportti.pdf [viitattu 7.10.2010].

Kuorikoski, Elina (2023). Lasten osallisuus varhaiskasvatuksessa. Kokemuksia lasten osallisuuden riittävyydestä, tarpeellisuudesta ja liiallisuudesta. Tampereen yliopisto. Kasvatustieteiden ja kulttuurin tiedekunta. Kandidaatintutkielma.