Teaching Children's Human Rights in Early Childhood Education and School
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Teaching children’s human rights in early childhood education and school Educational aims, content and processes Ann Quennerstedt (Ed.) Reports in Education 21 Reports in Education 21 Ann Quennerstedt (Ed.) Teaching children’s human rights in early childhood education and school Educational aims, content and processes © The authors, 2019 Utgivare: Örebro University www.oru.se/HumUS/pedagogik/rapporter ISSN 1650-0652 Abstract Setting out from the metaphor of a greenhouse, this project has explored education as a site for children’s and young people’s development as holders and practitioners of human rights. Drawing on a Didaktik research approach and terminology, the core scientific interest of the project has been to examine the aims, content and working methods in the teaching and learning of children’s human rights in early childhood education and compulsory school. The current report explores and answers the research questions: - What aims are strived for through the teaching in, through and about human rights? What is the content of the education, and which working methods are used? To answer these questions, classroom research was undertaken in four age groups: in early childhood education and in early, middle and late school years in Swedish compulsory school. The researchers studied teaching about children’s human rights, and data was collected by means of interviews with teachers and children and observations of ongoing teaching. The analysis drew on didactic theory, and an analytical tool based on the three didactic questions of why, what and how was developed and used. The report first provides a background to the role of early childhood education and school to educate children and young people in and about human rights. Human rights education is introduced and elaborated, and placed in a Swedish policy and curriculum context. An account of previous educational research on children’s rights and human rights education in school is given, and the study’s theoretical and methodological framework presented. The findings from the four studies undertaken within the project are thereafter presented in four chapters, each presenting the results from a specific age group. The final chapter presents a concluding analysis and discussion of the collated findings. Keywords: children’s rights, human rights education, HRE, Convention on the Rights of the Child. This report presents the main results of the research conducted within the project Education as a greenhouse for children's and young people's human rights, ongoing between 2015-2018. The project has been funded by the Swedish Research Council under grant number 2013-2129. The research reported in this document was carried out by the following four researchers: Ann Quennerstedt, professor in education, Örebro University, project leader. Britt Tellgren, senior lecturer in education, Örebro University. Lotta Brantefors, senior lecturer in education, Uppsala University. Nina Thelander, senior lecturer in education, Karlstad University. The report has been edited by Ann Quennerstedt. The following researchers were involved in the project but are not repre- sented in this publication: Sara Frödén, senior lecturer in education, Örebro University. Lisa Isenström, doctoral student in education, Örebro University. Louise Phillips, lecturer, School of Education, University of Queensland, Australia. Carol Robinson, associate professor, Education Research Centre, University of Brighton, UK. A list of other project publications can be found after the references. Table of Contents 1. PROJECT AIM AND FRAME ............................................................. 9 Ann Quennerstedt Introduction .............................................................................................. 9 Previous research on children’s rights in education ................................. 20 Theoretical framing, research design and method .................................... 24 2. TEACHING ABOUT AND THROUGH CHILDREN’S HUMAN RIGHTS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION .............................. 34 Britt Tellgren The Swedish preschool context ............................................................... 35 Sample, data and data collection ............................................................ 35 Results ..................................................................................................... 36 Discussion ............................................................................................... 53 3. TEACHING ABOUT AND THROUGH CHILDREN’S HUMAN RIGHTS IN EARLY SCHOOL YEARS ................................................. 56 Ann Quennerstedt Results ..................................................................................................... 57 Discussion ............................................................................................... 70 4. TEACHING ABOUTH AND THROUGHT CHILDREN’S HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL YEARS ....................................... 74 Lotta Brantefors Results ..................................................................................................... 75 Discussion and conclusions ..................................................................... 85 5. TEACHING ABOUT AND THROUGH CHILDREN’S HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE LATER SCHOOL YEARS ......................................... 90 Nina Thelander Why learn about human rights? .............................................................. 91 What is the content in the teaching of human rights? .............................. 91 Discussion ............................................................................................. 106 6. SYNTHESISING DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS .................. 108 Ann Quennerstedt HRE in four age groups – a synthesis ................................................... 108 Conclusions ........................................................................................... 118 REFERENCES ...................................................................................... 122 Other project publications, until february 2019: ................................... 131 1. Project aim and frame Ann Quennerstedt Introduction Being guided in our actions by the principles enshrined in human rights is highly valued in our society. In recent years, the world has come to realise that a continued allegiance to human rights, and their proliferation, can no longer be taken for granted. In view of how we value human rights, and the threats against them that we are currently witnessing, an important question to ask is, how people come to embrace human rights as guidance in their interactions with others. The research project that is reported on here aligns with the conviction of the international community (UN, 2006) that educa- tion plays a vital role in the upholding and spreading of human rights. Set- ting out from the metaphor of a greenhouse and John Dewey’s theory of education as growth through experience, this project has explored educa- tion as a site for children’s and young people’s development as holders and practitioners of human rights. In a greenhouse, you strive to create the best possible conditions for growth, and in the project we have sought to study how education provides (or does not provide) experiences that are necessary for growth as a holder of human rights. The study draws on several theoretically informed viewpoints on rights, children and education. A didactic research approach and terminology have provided a robust theoretical frame. The core scientific interest of the pro- ject has been to examine the aims, content and working methods in the teaching and learning of children’s human rights in early childhood educa- tion and nine-year compulsory school in Sweden. In the project, attention has been directed both to what we label direct teaching (when the teacher undertakes planned conventional teaching about rights), the learning that this gives rise to, and to what we call indirect teaching (the unplanned and often unconscious ‘teaching’ and learning that occurs in all educational in- teractions). Making this distinction between direct and indirect teaching is not given or unproblematic, since there is always unplanned and uncon- scious (i.e. with our terminology indirect) elements in planned (direct) teach- ing. We have nevertheless found the distinction to be a useful means to sep- arate planned/conscious and unplanned/unconscious teaching. 9 The overall aim and research questions of project are: - What aims are strived for through the teaching in, through and about human rights? What is the content of the education, and which working methods are used? - How does the education give children and young people opportunities to grow as holders and practitioners of human rights? In this report we largely focus on the first research question (aims, content, methods), although the report also considers the second (opportunities for growth) in the discussion. Further, it only reports on the examination of direct teaching. Accordingly, the report focuses on the educational aims, content and working methods in the direct teaching of children’s human rights. This means that the teaching perspective is highlighted and attention primarily given to the role and work of the teacher. Readers who are inter- ested in the learning perspective, the indirect teaching of children’s human rights, or more elaborated explorations of the consequences of the identified teaching and learning of children’s human rights are therefore referred to other publications