Students' perceptions of their rights in Portugal

The present study analyses young Portuguese students' perceptions of their rights at school and at home. The sample consisted of 294 male and female s tudents, in Year 7 to Year 9, from several regions in the country. The asse ssment instrument used was the 'Children's Rights Scale' (Hart, 1993; Kart et al., 1996) and results were related to a number of other questions regar ding the following independent variables: (1) school variables (school. yea r, school achievement, teacher's support, violence at school); (2) family v ariables (parental authority, family cohesion, parents' education); (3) per sonal variables (age, gender, professional interests). Significant relation s were found between the students' perceptions of their rights and these in dependent variables. In general, Portuguese students declare that their rig hts exist and are very important. Students who have a greater degree of per sonal limitations, or who Live in worse school or family contexts, are the ones who indicate less importance and perceive less existence of rights at school and at home. The study gives directions to efforts to strengthen pro jects for the promotion of students' rights by including training programs for teachers and parents, in a close net connection among school, family an d significant social agents.