The extent of availability of human rights concepts in the content of the social studies book for the third intermediate grade

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the human rights concepts contained in the content of the third-grade middle school social studies textbook. To achieve this goal, the researcher adopted a descriptive approach based on content analysis, using the idea as the unit of recording and repetition as the unit of enumeration. The validity of the analysis was verified by presenting examples to a group of experts specializing in teaching methods, measurement, and evaluation. The validity of the analysis tool was also verified by presenting the analysis form to another group of experts in the same field to ensure the comprehensiveness of the human rights concepts contained in the textbook. The reliability of the analysis was confirmed by reapplying it and calculating the coefficient of agreement using the Holsti equation.

The results of the study showed the presence of human rights concepts in middle school social studies textbooks with a total of 268 repetitions. The concept of freedom ranked first, with a repetition of 38 times, followed by the concepts of social and political rights, both with a repetition of 31 times. The concept of social rights ranked third, with a repetition of 29 times, while the concepts of political rights and people's rights also ranked third, both with a repetition of 31 times. These results indicate a clear interest by the book's authors in including basic human rights concepts. However, some concepts were weakly represented or completely absent, such as development rights, prisoners' rights, children's rights, and minority rights.

In light of these findings, the researcher recommended that the Ministry of Education reconsider its policies and plans for writing textbooks, utilizing the results of educational studies and research when developing curricula, particularly social studies textbooks. The researcher also suggested conducting subsequent experimental studies to measure the extent to which intermediate-level students have acquired the human rights concepts contained in these curricula.