Transcript Finding our place and purposes in Human Rights Education

FINDING OUR PLACE AND
PURPOSES IN HUMAN
RIGHTS EDUCATION
.
From the UDHR

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as
a common standard of achievement for all peoples and
all nations, to the end that every individual and every
organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in
mind, shall strive by teaching and education to
promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by
progressive measures, national and international, to
secure their universal and effective recognition and
observance, both among the peoples of Member States
themselves and among the peoples of territories under
their jurisdiction.
Article 26 from the UDHR

Education shall be directed to the full
development of the human
personality and to the strengthening
of respect for human rights and
fundamental freedoms.
Definition (HRE Associates)

Human Rights Education is a lifelong
process of teaching and learning that helps
individuals
 develop
the knowledge, skills, and values to fully
exercise and protect the human rights of
themselves and others
 to fulfill their responsibilities in the context of
internationally agreed upon human rights
principles
 to achieve justice and peace in our world.
Human Rights Education

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
Comprehensive HRE attends to the formal and informal
curriculum--considering content, teaching/learning
strategies, organizational practices, behavior, language,
and symbols.
Promotes a sense of critical literacy, the ability to “read”
the word in light of human rights.
“The ultimate goal of creating citizens who enact human
rights, not just students who know that they have human
rights” (Suarez, 2007).
Suárez, D. (2007). Education Professionals and the Construction of Human Rights Education. Comparative Education Review, 51, 48-70.
Uses of HRE

Provide learners a framework

for political choices and participation

to guide interpersonal behavior

to navigate consumption and environmental stewardship

Bullying prevention and safety promotion in schools
and communities

Inoculate against passive victimization and exploitation

Promote intergroup cooperation and respect

Community organizing and the development of agency
among marginalized populations
Endorsement is rare, justification is easy.

Rather than an “add on,”
HRE can become the “content” used to teach
computational, literacy, and critical thinking skills as
required by education standards
 HRE can help students relate standards and skills to
their private and public lives in more meaningful
ways
 HRE can speak to the “generative themes” in
students’ lives, increasing student motivation by
increasing the perceived relevance of schools and
curriculum

Background for Educators


Know the place of human rights relative to one’s
own philosophy of education and the purpose of
one’s work as a classroom or community
educator
Have a growing knowledge of human rights as
articulated in various instruments (civil, political,
cultural, economic, and social)
Relevance


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Connect learners’ prior knowledge, current life experiences,
and personal interests to human rights principles and
concepts (this can include identified needs within the school
or community)
Conceptualize how learners’ developmental characteristics
and needs might be related to human rights themes and
concepts (identity for adolescents, fairness for primary grades,
peer acceptance, self-esteem, etc.)
Work with learners to connect their specific ethnic, familial,
racial, gender, sexual and other identity characteristics to
human right principles and concepts, in both history and
contemporary life
Relevance

Encourage students to use their understanding
of human rights to interpret and critically analyze
their own experiences in school, home, and
community

Encourage students to use their understanding
of human rights to interpret and seek
understanding of people in various social
groups, geographic regions, and times in history
Instruction

Establish and articulate specific human rights
education goals for students (in light of
curriculum endorsed by the school’s governing
body, connected to the standards)
Suggested Strategy
1.
Examine the standard or common core element you are
required to teach
2.
Ask:
Regarding Content: What are the concepts or themes
within this standard that could be interpreted as
human rights related?
Regarding Skills and Concepts: Can I teach this skill
or concept using materials that simultaneously teach
human rights concepts, content, or agency?
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3.
Use on-line resources to locate lessons or activities
address either of the goals above.
Instruction

Use instructional or classroom organizational
strategies that are consistent with human rights
concepts and principles in respecting the dignity
and rights of students/clients, their families, and
their communities

Use adaptive materials, resources, and
technologies to make human rights concepts
and principles accessible to all
Learning Environment

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Plan and implement--with students--classroom
procedures, disciplinary plans, and
management structures that explicitly embody
human rights concepts
Thus supporting students’ learning about
human right concepts and principles through
lived classroom and school experience
Preparation for Action

Develop (instructional) activities that allow
students to take positive action relative to their
own human rights and their responsibilities to
protect and promote the rights of others