Memorandum submitted by Save the Children
SAVE THE
CHILDREN UK AND
THE WORK
OF THE
DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION
TEAM
Save the Children are working to create a better
world for children. We work in the UK and around the world, delivering
lasting change. Our focus on children's rights is underpinned
by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
Through our programme of work in education we concentrate on the
most marginalised groups of children and young people, including
those who are at risk of being excluded from school.
The British Government has a duty to make sure
that all citizens have access to their rights and a secure understanding
of their responsibilities as citizens of this country and of the
wider world. By teaching children from a young age about their
rights and responsibilities, a platform is created on which to
build for the future.
The Development Education Team at Save the Children
UK is committed to ensuring that citizenship teaching must include
the principles of the UNCRC. An understanding of the UNCRC means
that children and young people in the UK are inspired to take
action to fulfil their own rights but also to act to ensure the
rights of their peers around the world are promoted, protected
and fulfilled.
AIMS OF
THIS SUBMISSION
1.1 This submission presents the position
of Save the Children UK on the need for more explicit articulation
and practice of the UNCRC within curriculum content, aims and
school ethos in England.
1.2 In recognition of innovative practice,
research and developments in the field of citizenship education
in recent years, it argues for stronger links to be made between
the clear interface that exists between human rights education
(and consequently child rights) and citizenship education.
1.3 In keeping with its education mandate
and drawing upon Article 42 of the Convention, Save the Children
UK seeks to ensure that the UK government, as signatory to the
UNCRC, considers the opportunities presented by the formal education
system for the teaching and learning of issues related to child
rights and responsibilities.
GUIDELINES FOR
CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION
AND PHSE IN
ENGLAND AND
WALES
2. Since its non-statutory introduction
into Schools in England and Wales in 2000, citizenship education
has now become a statutory requirement at Key Stages 3 and 4 whilst
maintaining its non-statutory status at Key Stages 1 and 2. In
the primary school this is mainly addressed by cross curricula
activities, inclusion in elements of other subjects as well as
in the school's daily life eg assemblies, school councils, playground
rules.
3.1 Working within this framework and whilst
recognising those aspects of the guidelines which point towards
issues of Child Rights education, Save the Children UK demands
teaching and learning about Child Rights education as an explicit
guideline of the citizenship curriculum across all Key Stages.
Save the Children UK views this as a vital addition to existing
guidelines in order to ensure that Article 42 of the UNCRC which
states that:
States Parties undertake to make the principles
and provisions of the Convention widely known, by appropriate
and active means, to adults and children alike[13]
is observed by all relevant actors (government,
education authorities, curriculum bodies, schools, teachers),
with the aim of ensuring that the obligation to inform children
of their rights and responsibilities as outlined in the UNCRC
is respected by all.
3.2 Whilst expecting the curriculum at Key
Stage 1 to include learning about basic rights and responsibilities,
Key Stage 2 is envisaged as the appropriate point at which UNCRC
would be formally introduced. This position is taken based on
the increasing capacity of children at this age to be aware of
issues that do not only relate to them and their immediate community
but also to issues of global significance.
3.3 Save the Children UK recognises the
rich learning environments within schools working to establish
good practice in citizenship and PHSE, both in individual subject
areas and whole school approaches, as an ideal opportunity for
promoting effective and relevant education on the UNCRC.
THE BENEFITS
OF CHILD
RIGHTS EDUCATION
4.1 A study by Save the Children into Citizenship
education and the UNCRC in primary schools[14]
cites the importance of teaching about rights as part of citizenship
education as a catalyst for lifelong effects. By understanding
that there are laws and conventions that define and describe the
rights to which they are entitled, children can feel empowered.
They can also begin to recognise when these rights are being denied.
The study also showed how empathy created from learning about
the exploitation of children who are denied access to their rights
acts as a stimulus to the development of rights respecting attitudes.
A foundation is hence established of positive attitudes towards
human rights and responsibilities in general that should remain
with children into adulthood.
4.2 Our experience shows that Childs Rights
education that includes participatory methods of teaching can
increase positive behaviour and a positive attitude to learning.
By giving children an element of ownership of their learning within
clearly defined boundaries, which reflect the need not to negatively
impinge on the rights of others, they can learn to become active
partners in their school experiences.
4.3 The improved attitude of pupils towards
each other has also been identified along with an increase in
concern towards respecting and protecting the feelings of others.
This learning is essential in order for children to grow into
responsible citizens who understand the responsibility that they
have towards others and the need for them to take an active part
in society in order to protect their rights and the rights of
others.
4.4 Recent studies show possible correlations
between teaching about the UNCRC (particularly when participatory
pedagogies are respected), improvements in children's attitudes
to schooling and to others, and their future participation as
responsible citizens within their local and wider communities.
4.5 Children feel empowered through learning
about their own rights and become more aware of and more supportive
of the rights of others.
RECOMMENDATIONS
5. Save the Children strongly recommends
the introduction of education about the UNCRC as an explicit guideline
within statutory and non-statutory curriculum content, with related
stages of learning, links to wider/related curricula areas, guidance
on breadth of opportunities and expected possible outcomes.
CONCLUSION
We argue for the explicit inclusion of the UNCRC
within curriculum guidelines both statutory and non-statutory
in England, to draw attention not only to the requirements of
government to respond to Article 42 of the Convention, but also
to the benefits of Child Rights education for individuals, schools,
communities and by definition to the wider national and international
context. We draw attention to the role of Child Rights education
in contributing to positive expectations of human relationship
and responsibility and to the need to defend and respect rights
on a global scale.
Save the Children UK emphasises that effective
and sustainable Child Rights education does not aim to develop
the rights of individuals over others but ensures that all citizens,
individually and collectively, access opportunities available
to them and recognise the role of others in making this happen.
March 2006
13 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article
42. Back
14
Klein (2001) Citizens by Right, Citizenship education in primary
schools, Save the Children. Back
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