A good teacher can have a profoundly positive impact on a child that can last a lifetime. Teachers help give children the knowledge and skills they need to get on in life. An education infused with children’s rights is not only positive for those in the classroom, but helps a society develop into one where its citizens understand and respect human rights.
Children have all human rights. Not because they are “the future” or the “adults of tomorrow”, but because they are human beings today. Like adults, children have civil and political rights, which in the classroom include the right to be heard, freedom of expression, freedom of association, privacy and more. In addition to educational rights, the right to play and cultural rights, freedom from discrimination and the importance of inclusion are also key to your work with children.
The classroom is the best place to teach children about human rights. Children should learn about rights and what they mean, and also see teachers respecting their rights and the rights of others in the class. One of the most important lessons a teacher can give a student is how to become an advocate for their own rights.
We want a world where governments and societies view and treat children as rights holders - not simply as the future in need of protection and charity, or merely an extension of their parents. We want to work with teachers to achieve this goal. Please email us for further information and advice, or to give us feedback on our work and how we can better help you protect and promote children’s rights.
Resources for you
We have produced a guide to applying a rights based approach to children for teachers. A rights based approach comes from the notion that children are rights holders, and that for real change to happen the focus must be on promoting and protecting their rights - not just treating them as objects of charity. The guide for teachers includes tips for helping to create a safe environment for children where they can not only access education, but learn about their rights. It is not designed to tell you how to do your job, but rather to give you the tools to understand how children’s rights fit into it.
Below are some additional children’s rights resources dedicated to teachers. Please email us with your feedback on these, as well as suggestions for further resources we could look to produce.