Does human rights-based education ‘work’? (Nov 2009)

Does human rights-based education ‘work’? (Nov 2009)

When early partners in Human Rights in Education first talked with colleagues in the Ministry of Education a few years back about working together to meet New Zealand's international legal obligations to take a human rights approach to education we were asked ‘Where is the evidence that it contributes to education outcomes?'

The ‘evidence-based" mantra is understandable: how can we be confident that a particular approach will actually better realise the agreed right every young New Zealander has to education?

Our confidence is based on three main sources:

• the experience of the English county of Hampshire (see Rights, Respect, Responsibilities)
• a careful reading of the conclusions of the world-renowned best evidence syntheses commissioned by the Ministry of Education (particularly Quality Teaching (2003), School Leadership (2009), Effective Pedagogy in Social Sciences (2008) and Teacher Professional Learning & Development (2007))
• the international momentum for human rights-based education.