Experiences from the field: Transforming teaching and learning through children's rights education

• In Event: Pedagogical practices: preparing future teachers for a more equitable world

Proposal

Children are not just the future; they are the present. In this paper presentation, I will be sharing my findings and pedagogical approach to teaching and learning based on my research and professional experiences working in the areas of education and children’s rights. These findings have led to the understanding that it is essential for children to learn about their rights and for teachers to be trained in CRE not only to transfer this knowledge, but also to ensure that they approach education through a rights-based lens. A rights-based approach to education and this process of knowledge transfer can help educators and learners transform the UN Convention on the rights of the child from a symbolic text to a living document, ensuring that children’s rights are lived (experienced) and living (contextualized and adapted to present and emerging needs of children) leading to equitable practices and fostering understanding, respect and inclusion in and beyond the classroom walls. Informing the research findings is a conversation about children’s rights, an understanding of the constructed nature of childhood, and the role of creative drama as a pedagogical approach in transferring knowledge and opening the path for creative and collaborative practices and forms of inquiry in CRE.

Eglantyne Jebb (1929) stated that “[e]very generation of children offers a fresh opportunity for the reconstruction of civilization” (p.5). To enable reconstruction, progression, and the development of a more peaceful and equitable present and future, it is vital to ensure that every generation of children is educated, protected and equipped with their rights. Rights simply empower their holders. As Joel Feinberg (1970) asserted and R. Brian Howe (2007) affirmed “claims based on rights – rather than actions based on benevolence or pity or a sense of duty – have value in conveying the understanding that the holders of rights are persons worthy of respect” (p. 2). Children’s rights education will improve teaching and learning, and it will help equip and empower children with their domestic and international rights, which is essential.

In General Comment No. 15 by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the following is clearly stated:
Children do not lose their human rights by virtue of passing through the school gates. Thus, for example, education must be provided in a way that respects the inherent dignity of the child, enables the child to express his or her views freely in accordance with article 12(1) and to participate in school life. (Pinheiro, 2006, p.34).
Unfortunately, children in many countries including Canada do ‘lose’ their rights in both school and society for several reasons including but not limited to lack of rights awareness and education, school policies that are not rights based, and limited to no participation by the children with regards to decisions that impact their education and lives. In research conducted by Jerome et al. (2015), 26 countries including Canada were examined to see if child rights education (CRE) was being implemented – the results varied with only 11 countries requiring that child rights be a part of the curriculum. In Canada, the research indicated that CRE is being implemented in some provinces specifically Nova Scotia. The findings also indicate that neither the government nor a public agency monitors and/or inspects the quality of the CRE, the initial training of teachers does not require teachers to attain training in children’s rights and the CRE, and there are no regulations that require teachers to be knowledgeable of these rights. If teachers are not receiving any training, schools are not adopting these rights, and governments are not monitoring their dissemination, how can Canada or any other country meet the requirement of article 42 – the dissemination of knowledge of children’s rights? According to a report by the Canadian Coalition on the Rights of Children (2020), Canada is not.

If children are not learning about their rights in schools, where can they access these documents? How would they know what and where to search? If teachers are not taught about children’s rights, how to approach education from a children’s rights-based lens, or how to identify and report violations of these rights, how can they support children through their educational journey? Although these issues have been highlighted by children’s rights advocates and educators around the world, and many governments are aware of them, action in 2022 has remained sporadic based on individual efforts as opposed to binding policies that are accessible and monitored.

All children are in dire need of education systems that are rights-based - creative, adaptive, equitable, relevant, and inclusive with rights at their core; education with curricula tailored to the learners’ psychological, cognitive, and physical needs and trained educators with the ability to teach and aid children in talking about their experiences as opposed to suppressing them. This is not just needed in emergency situations but in all situations as it prepares children to be a part of a cohesive community and equips teachers to deal with an ever-changing present. This focus on improving teaching and learning practices around the world through the adoption of relevant and inclusive curriculum with effective and an appropriate pedagogical approach is not a new goal; it was previously addressed in the 2000 Dakar Framework for Action and reiterated by educators and in the final report of the 2015 World Education Forum. What is missing in these calls to action is the “how” for educators. In my presentation, I will address how a children’s rights approach to teaching and learning works, the role creative drama can play in bringing these ideas to life, and the importance of CRE. This can help teachers bring forth change in their own classrooms.

Author

• Hala Mreiwed, King's University College at Western