Submitted by jonas on
[1 December 2014] - Learning about child rights and the child rights approach empowers children and adults to bring about change in their immediate environment and the world at large to ensure that the rights of all children are fully realised.
Child rights education is teaching and learning about the provisions and principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the ‘child rights approach’ – in order to empower both adults and children to take action to advocate for and apply these at the family, school, community, national and global levels. Child rights education promotes a vision, articulated in the Convention, that “the child should be fully prepared to live an individual life in society, and be brought up in the spirit of the ideals proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, and in particular in the spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity.”
By building capacity, child rights education aims to support rights-holders – especially children – to claim their rights and duty-bearers to fulfil their obligations. It helps adults and children work together, providing space and encouragement for the meaningful participation and sustained civic engagement of children.
Children’s rights are human rights. Consequently, child rights education is a specific component of human rights education.
Child rights education seeks:
- To embed the provisions and principles of the Convention and the child rights approach in formal and non-formal learning curricula and learning environments; as well as in the curricula and training of professionals working directly with children, or on issues affecting children;
- To raise awareness of the provisions and principles and the child rights approach through mass media and other channels to reach caregivers, community members and other members of the public;
- To build the capacity of children (as rights-holders) and adults (as duty-bearers) to advocate for and implement these provisions, principles and the child rights approach in daily life and professional practice.
UNICEF has developed a child rights' education toolkit on Rooting Child Rights in Early Childhood Education, Primary and Secondary Schools.
The toolkit defines what is meant by child rights education and the child rights approach. The toolkit explains the relevance of child rights education to UNICEF’s mission and the ways in which education can take place in a range of contexts--including with professionals, caregivers, the corporate sector, the media, and children’s groups.
The toolkit uses the metaphor of a tree to explore child rights education in the context of school-based initiatives that promote learning about rights, learning through rights (using rights as an organizing principle to transform the culture of learning) and learning for rights (taking action to realize rights), in an overall context of learning as a right. It contains a range of practical tools, checklists, mapping exercises, project examples and evidence of the benefits of high quality child rights education.
Although the approaches in the toolkit are relevant for all countries, the first edition focuses on the work of National Committees in high-income countries. A second edition in the future will also cover the related work of UNICEF country offices.
