"This reminds me why I went into teaching; children's rights education has changed my life."
(Rights, Respect and Responsibility Teacher)
(Rights, Respect and Responsibility Teacher)
Rights, Respect and Responsibility: The Hampshire County Initiative
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Over eight years, Drs. Covell and Howe travelled to the County of Hampshire, England to administer surveys and interviews for the evaluation of the Hampshire Education Authority’s Rights, Respect and Responsibility (RRR) initiative. The RRR initiative was started in Hampshire in 2003 after prior visits by Hampshire teachers and senior administrators to the Cape Breton University Children’s Rights Centre whose directors had evaluated a program of children’s rights education in schools in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. Like the Cape Breton program, the RRR is based on and consistent with the rights of children as articulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The RRR extended the Cape Breton Program through systematic and strategic implementation of the initiative, through the widespread provision of teacher training, and through a whole-school reform approach. Overall, the RRR initiative must be considered to be a major success. Many of the findings were in the expected direction; that implementing a rights respecting orientation into the overall school ethos would have benefits for students, teachers, and administration. This study yielded intriguing results regarding the effects of the implementation of a children's rights respecting environment in public schools.
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Reports
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Why teach children's rights in schools?
Under article 42 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, there is a legal obligation to teach children as well as adults about their rights. Children are best reached in their schools. But perhaps more importantly, many good things happen when children learn they have rights in a rights-respecting school environment. When curricula are infused with children’s rights, and when schools use the Convention on the Rights of the Child as their overarching framework for all school policies and practices, the outcomes are very positive.[1] Yet many parents and teachers remain concerned about rights education. Let’s look at concerns parents and teachers have expressed and what actually happens.
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MYTH 1
If taught about their rights at school, children will become unruly, demanding, and disruptive.
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REALITY
When children learn that all children share the same basic human rights, and when their rights are respected, they become increasingly respectful of the rights of all children. They are more likely to help other children, and they are more accepting of children with differences or difficulties. Bullying and other aggressive and antisocial behaviours are significantly lessened. School suspensions and exclusions as well as other behavioural incidents tend to decrease dramatically.
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MYTH 2
If teachers tell children they have rights, teachers will lose their authority in the classroom and parents will lose their authority in the home.
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REALITY
Children actually show increased respect to their teachers and parents when their rights are respected. Interpersonal relationships become more harmonious and characterized by mutual respect. Teachers have reported that the more central children’s rights are to their classroom, the more the children respect their teachers. Parents have reported fewer arguments from their children about issues such as bedtime, explaining that the children realize that parental rules are there to assist in the realization of their rights.
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MYTH 3
Once children know they have rights, they will be less likely to accept responsibility and more selfish.
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REALITY
Children very quickly come to understand that if they wish to enjoy their own rights, it is imperative that they respect the rights of others. In the words of one boy: “I learned that the most important responsibility is to respect the rights of others.” When learning that not all children enjoy their rights, children like to take action; some have started school breakfast clubs, some have contributed to refugee children and to children experiencing natural disasters. Teachers also report that children become more careful with classroom and school equipment.
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MYTH 4
If the school curricula are full of rights, children’s test scores will go down.
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REALITY
Test scores increase – a lot. Children come to understand education as a right with the corresponding responsibility to try their best. Learning they have rights, and experiencing those rights at school also increases children’s sense of self-worth. These changes, along with a more respectful classroom, result in significant gains in academic achievement. Gains are particularly large for children from disadvantaged circumstances – their test scores have increased to be equivalent to their more advantaged peers.
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[1] For details see Howe, R.B. & Covell, K. (2013). Education in the Best Interests of the Child. Toronto: University of Toronto Press
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Education in the Best Interests of the Child by R.Brian Howe and Katherine Covell
A large body of research in disciplines from sociology and policy studies to neuroscience and educational psychology has confirmed that socioeconomic status remains the most powerful influence on children’s educational outcomes. Socially disadvantaged children around the world disproportionately suffer from lower levels of educational achievement, which in turn leads to unfavourable long-term outcomes in employment and health. Education in the Best Interests of the Child addresses this persistent problem, which violates not only the principle of equal educational opportunity, but also the broader principle of the best interests of the child as called for in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Building on the children’s rights work accomplished in their previous book, Empowering Children, Brian Howe and Katherine Covell identify three types of reform that can significantly close the educational achievement gap. Their findings make an important argument for stronger and more comprehensive action to equalize educational opportunities for disadvantaged children. |
Evaluation of UNICEF UK's Rights Respecting Schools Award (2010) - Executive Summary by Professor Judy Sebba and Dr. Carol Robinson