Children's Rights Education in Diverse Classrooms

With PISA tables, accountability, and performance management pulling educators in one direction, and the understanding that education is a social process embedded in cultural contexts, tailored to meet the needs and challenges of individuals and communities in another, it is easy to end up in seeing teachers as positioned as opponents to the ‘system’. Jerome and Starkey argue that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 1989) can provide a pragmatic starting point for educators to challenge some of these unsettling trends in a way which does not set up unnecessary opposition with policy-makers.

They review the evidence from international evaluations, surveys and case studies about practice in human rights and child right education before exploring the key principles of transformative and experiential education to offer a robust theoretical framework that can guide the development of child rights education. They also draw out practical implications and outline a series of teaching and learning approaches that are values informed, aligned with children’s rights and focused on quality learning.

Lee Jerome is Associate Professor of Education at Middlesex University, UK. He has taught in schools, universities and NGOs for over 20 years and has also worked with a range of organisations including the Association for Citizenship Teaching, BBC and UNICEF, to support high quality education.

Hugh Starkey is Professor of Education at IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, University College London, UK. He has acted as a consultant on human rights education and intercultural education for the Council of Europe, UNESCO and the British Council.