Page 21 - Šolsko polje, XXXI, 2020, 3-4: Convention on the Rights of the Child: Educational Opportunities and Social Justice, eds. Zdenko Kodelja and Urška Štremfel
P. 21
z. moody ■ children’s rights to, in and through rducation ...
the foundations of citizenship are formed and laid. Meaningfulness, in-
terest and active involvement are all elements producing a genuine sense
of belonging to the school community, to a knowledge community, and to
society as a whole – the society which children are destined to inhabit and
contribute to as subjects of the law. Children’s rights support and shape
the learning process to allow the development of skills for the 21st century
world, amongst which creativity and critical thinking (Darbellay, 2019).
Lastly, implementing the rights of each child, either in the school
setting or through teaching practices, allows a sense of justice to emerge
(Covell, 2013). When a child grows in a respectful, positive environment,
he or she learns the basis of living together, justice distribution and social
cohesion. He or she can then know, recognise and implement the rights of
the individual, ensuring equal dignity for all and understanding the scope
of human rights by exercising their own and respecting others’ (Moody,
in press).
The transformative aim of children’s rights
If the initial intention of human rights education, and thereby children’s
rights education, was “promoting understanding, tolerance and friend-
ship between all nations and all racial or religious groups” (UHRD, 1948,
Art. 26, para. 2)5, nowadays the focus has shifted onto the processes of em-
powerment, emancipation and even transformation. Rights through edu-
cation and more specifically rights education now aims to promote a just
society and reduce inequalities by ensuring that learners become agents
of change to transform the system: “activists for human rights through
the process of HRE (Human Rights Education) by sharing information
with others and actively working to defend human rights” (Bajaj and
DasGupta, 2017, p. 5; also see Tibbitts, 2015).
Considering human rights education as emancipating is ambitious.
One approach is to see it as a way of surpassing the declarative, non-re-
flexive approaches which sometimes form the basis of this type of teach-
ing: namely, developing knowledge about standards, their content and the
mechanisms to enforce them, without challenging them (Keet, 2012; also
see Reynaert, Bouverne-deBie and Vandevelde, 2010; Snauwaert, 2019).
Alternatively, this view can be considered as going beyond education, and
exercising one’s rights in a protected, fictitious setting: namely school. It is
essential for children that their rights are respected by and within school
– as the only social institution solely reserved for them – while also allow-
ing them to experience the educational mechanisms designed to develop
5 Also see the 1993 United Nations Vienna Declaration, which was a “watershed moment for
HRE” (Bajaj and DasGupta, 2018, p. 3).
19
the foundations of citizenship are formed and laid. Meaningfulness, in-
terest and active involvement are all elements producing a genuine sense
of belonging to the school community, to a knowledge community, and to
society as a whole – the society which children are destined to inhabit and
contribute to as subjects of the law. Children’s rights support and shape
the learning process to allow the development of skills for the 21st century
world, amongst which creativity and critical thinking (Darbellay, 2019).
Lastly, implementing the rights of each child, either in the school
setting or through teaching practices, allows a sense of justice to emerge
(Covell, 2013). When a child grows in a respectful, positive environment,
he or she learns the basis of living together, justice distribution and social
cohesion. He or she can then know, recognise and implement the rights of
the individual, ensuring equal dignity for all and understanding the scope
of human rights by exercising their own and respecting others’ (Moody,
in press).
The transformative aim of children’s rights
If the initial intention of human rights education, and thereby children’s
rights education, was “promoting understanding, tolerance and friend-
ship between all nations and all racial or religious groups” (UHRD, 1948,
Art. 26, para. 2)5, nowadays the focus has shifted onto the processes of em-
powerment, emancipation and even transformation. Rights through edu-
cation and more specifically rights education now aims to promote a just
society and reduce inequalities by ensuring that learners become agents
of change to transform the system: “activists for human rights through
the process of HRE (Human Rights Education) by sharing information
with others and actively working to defend human rights” (Bajaj and
DasGupta, 2017, p. 5; also see Tibbitts, 2015).
Considering human rights education as emancipating is ambitious.
One approach is to see it as a way of surpassing the declarative, non-re-
flexive approaches which sometimes form the basis of this type of teach-
ing: namely, developing knowledge about standards, their content and the
mechanisms to enforce them, without challenging them (Keet, 2012; also
see Reynaert, Bouverne-deBie and Vandevelde, 2010; Snauwaert, 2019).
Alternatively, this view can be considered as going beyond education, and
exercising one’s rights in a protected, fictitious setting: namely school. It is
essential for children that their rights are respected by and within school
– as the only social institution solely reserved for them – while also allow-
ing them to experience the educational mechanisms designed to develop
5 Also see the 1993 United Nations Vienna Declaration, which was a “watershed moment for
HRE” (Bajaj and DasGupta, 2018, p. 3).
19
