Educational content selection in human rights education at the early childhood education and care level

Highlights: - Educational content is not a prioritised discussion when suggesting ideas for observing UN Day. - Empirical insight into ECEC teachers’ ideas on observing UN Day. - Difficult to work with human rights education without a connection to human rights. - The four dimensions can offer structures to select content from a subject-didactic perspective. - Non-governmental and intergovernmental organisations mainly produce educational resources for this level. Purpose: This study pays attention to educational content in human rights education (HRE) at the early childhood education and care (ECEC) level. It aims to discuss the function of four content selection dimensions for discussing HRE content at the ECEC level. Design/methodology/approach: The aim is explored through a directed content analysis of 73 online posts suggesting ideas for observing UN Day. Findings: In the ECEC teachers’ ideas, little attention is paid to educational content. Less than half of the posts include a connection to human rights. Preliminary findings indicate that the four dimensions can aid in structuring a subject-didactic approach to HRE content. Research limitations/implications: This study contributes to discussing HRE content in ECEC. It provides insight into prevalent ideas and discussions; it does not provide insight into how ECEC teachers practice HRE. Practical implications: The findings are a starting point for discussing support to ECEC teachers in selecting human rights educational content.