Children’s Rights to, in and through Education: Challenges and Opportunities (original) (raw)

A School for Children with Rights: The Significance of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child for Modern Education Policy. Innocenti Lectures: 1997 Lecture

1998

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child affirms that every child has a right to education. The purpose of education is to enable the child to develop to his or her fullest possible potential and to learn respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. The general principles of the Convention which are relevant to education cover non-discrimination, the best interests of the child, the child’s right to life, survival and development, and the child’s right to express opinions. These principles can serve as a useful instrument in discussions on how to reform schools. This paper analyses, in the light of the Convention, eight areas for progressive reform: universal access, equal opportunities, the appropriate content of education, cultural roots and global values, new methods of learning, mutual respect, pupil participation, and the role of teachers, parents and the community. It also examines the problems both of implementing and of paying for such reform. The author concludes ...

Do Children Have Rights or Do Their Rights Have to be Realised? The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as a Frame of Reference for Pedagogical Action

Journal of Philosophy of Education, 2008

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is presented and understood as the primary reference point regarding questions of children's rights. However, the UNCRC is not a neutral instrument deployed to meet the rights of children: it embodies a specific perception of the child, childhood and citizenship. The interpretation of the UNCRC from the point of view of children's legal status emphasises the autonomy of children; the focus is on the rights that children possess. Conversely, the social-political interpretation of the UNCRC addresses the question of how the rights of children can be realised. It is suggested that distinguishing between these interpretations is essential with regard to questions of pedagogy and education.

Children’s Rights-Based Approach in Education: Experiences from Scattered Initiatives

2016

In the society, the culture of which gives high value on hierarchy and emphasis on the children’s obligation, raising the issue of children’s rights may be considered as impolite by the standard of the culture. Teachers having such a cultural background may show some resistance to the implementation of the Convention in their schools. This paper deals with an alternative of implementing the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child by using the children’s rights-based approach in education. The study showed that teachers in public schools tend to be more conservative than in private schools.

Children’s Fundamental Human Rights to Education: A comparative look at litigations that have helped to shape this concept

2010

Researchers in education studies have focused on helping us to understand concepts that have helped to develop education across the globe, such as children's physical and psychological development, pedagogical development, curriculum development, education budgets, education managements, sociology of education, and various state or regional education policies. As a result, in educational studies, it is often quite easy to remember the roles of teachers, principals, executive, legislatures, agencies, local education authorities, schools, or a ministry of education, but not usually the roles of the court in general and strategic litigation in particular. But both have played significant roles in development of education, particularly in developing the concept of children´s rights to education as being of fundamental importance. As education becomes more and more globalized, with its increasingly expanding bureaucratic structures in many countries, I believe that the roles of the court in shaping children's rights to education can no longer be ignored. Rather more understanding of it is necessary. I adopted three types of literature examination in conducting this research; legal cases, legal research and educational research. Cases cited in this report will clearly direct reader's attention to some particular issues that have been an obstacle to children's fundamental right to education, how it was challenged and impacts of the court's decision on education. By choosing cases from across the globe, I intend to show that violation of children's fundamental right to education is a global rather than regional or national phenomenon. No doubt that there are many other cases and articles about violation of children's right to education, but in choosing the cases I reported here, I am primarily concerned with the extent to which the impact of each decided case has propelled the development and sustenance of children's right to education. It follows that some major cases are not included albeit being of great importance.

Realising Child Rights in Education: Experiences and Reflections from the International Training Programme on Child Rights, Classroom and School Management

2016

Citation for published version (APA): Rasmusson, B., Andersson, L., Wångdahl Flinck, A., Leo, U., & Wickenberg, P. (2016). Looking back and looking forward. In B. Rasmusson, L. Andersson, A. W. Flinck, U. Leo, & P. Wickenberg (Eds.), Realising Child Rights in Education: Experience and Reflections from the International Training Programme on Child Rights, Classroom and School Management (1 ed., Vol. 1, pp. 217-225). Lund: Lund University.