Meeting standards (Dec 2009)

Meeting standards (Dec 2009)

2010 is the first year in which schools are required to implement a school curriculum based on the revised national curriculum, including meeting the requirement that

‘Each Board of Trustees, through the principal and staff...develop and implement a curriculum for students in Y1-13 in which the values as expressed in The New Zealand Curriculum are encouraged and modelled and are explored by students.'

-- and the expectation that ‘respect for...human rights' will ‘be evident in the school's  philosophy, structures, curriculum, classrooms and relationships'  (NZC p10)

This expectation is critical to New Zealand's compliance with international human rights standards (eg the preamble and article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, articles 29 and 42 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and as reflected in the UN World Programme for Human Rights Education).

The other standards preoccupying colleagues in primary schools, of course, relate to literacy and numeracy. There is no doubt that the development of literacy and numeracy are extremely important in meeting the human rights mission of the school -- to develop human potential and develop effective citizens able to exercise their human rights and respect, protect and fulfil others'. It's also pretty clear that the development of literacy and numeracy is enhanced when students see their relevance to things that matter to them.

In Hampshire, headteachers and county education officers have attributed improvements in standard test scores in recent years to the improved learning environment created as schools develop rights-respecting classrooms, and increasing language skills as students get more experience in exercising their freedom of expression and right to have a say in matters affecting them through more democratic classrooms, greater participation in school decisionmaking, and engagement as active citizens in community issues.

Part of an Amnesty International UK series, Human Rights in the Curriculum: Mathematics outlines how maths learning can reflect human rights themes. A key HRiE | Mana Tika Tangata support partner, Global Focus Aotearoa (incorporating the Global Education Centre) has produced Global Disparities: a Teaching Resource Kit, which although designed principally to help meet geography standards, also provides interesting human rights-related statistics spreadsheets that can be used in the Maths & Stats learning area.