Trivers, H; Starkey, H; (2012) The politics of critical citizenship education: Human rights for conformity or emancipation? In: Politics, Participation & Power Relations: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Critical Citizenship in the Classroom and Community. (pp. 137-151).

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Abstract

© 2012 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved. Claims that whole-school human rights education (HRE) projects have been particularly successful have been made in the UK Parliament and in research studies focusing on the Rights, Respect, Responsibility initiative in Hampshire and the UNICEF UK Rights Respecting Schools Award. Such claims have encouraged schools to join these programmes, attracted by expectations of positive impact on behaviour and general school improvement. However, a close examination of the literature and the evaluative studies suggests that whereas relationships between children and their relationships with teachers may well be perceived as improving, what is actually happening may not be HRE as it is defined and recognised in authoritative international agreements. HRE must include learning about human rights, and also learning in an environment where the principles underpinning human rights, such as equality, participation and respect, are practiced and lived. However, HRE is also intended to help pupils to explore power relationships in society through supporting them to identify and take action on real human rights issues. Evidence from the evaluations of these approaches suggests that some schools implement the programmes as behaviour management projects, focusing on responsibilities over rights, and equating human rights with good behaviour and obeying rules. In these cases a lack of political content and analysis, coupled with token participation, fails to provide children with their right under the Convention on the Rights of the Child to learn about their rights. The article concludes with suggestions for ensuring a more critical edge to implementation.

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