Emphasis on human rights in schoolwork: An insight into the methods of Rights Schools
Violations of children’s human rights occur in many parts of the world due to wars, various types of crises and multiple other reasons. Children are especially vulnerable in such situations which behoves the international community and civil societies to react. In accordance with international oblig...
| Published in: | Netla |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | Icelandic |
| Published: |
Menntavísindasvið Háskóla Íslands
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ojs.hi.is/netla/article/view/3604 https://doi.org/10.24270/serritnetla.2022.73 |
| Summary: | Violations of children’s human rights occur in many parts of the world due to wars, various types of crises and multiple other reasons. Children are especially vulnerable in such situations which behoves the international community and civil societies to react. In accordance with international obligations of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, children's rights need to be ensured, for example by supporting their development and education, offering them participation opportunities, and educating them about their rights. This emphasis has in recent decades become stronger in the educational policies of western countries, which includes Iceland. In this article, the history of education legislation will first be traced, how children’s and young people’s rights develop and get a deeper and broader meaning from the first comprehensive Icelandic legislation in 1907 on children’s education (7–13 years) to the most recent in 2008 on primary education (6–15 years). The current education system emphasizes that children and young people need to learn about their rights and responsibilities as a prerequisite for living with other people in the society. The developmental project of UNICEF’s Rights School in Iceland emerged from this background in 2016–2017. The aim was to create democratic environments in schools and strengthen students’ welfare by implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child. At the end of year 2017, the first schools in Iceland were accepted as UNICEF Rights Schools. Secondly, data was obtained from two Rights Schools’ websites about the ideology and emphasis of the schoolwork. The following data was also obtained from UNICEF about the Rights School project: UNICEF’s summary of experience with the project, Rights School Handbook (Eriksson and Fryknäs, n.d.), Implementation and participation in Rights Schools, Rights School Project book and Introduction to Rights Schools. Thirdly, to give an insight into how human rights emphasis appears in schoolwork the aim of the paper is to present ... |
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