Starting the school year

Starting the school year

Human rights-based education has impact because it meets key criteria for effective school organisation and pedagogy:

Clear common purpose is communicated to all members of the school community: schools exist to realise the right of every young person to education, which is a key means of realising human rights in general (eg rights to work, adequate standard of living, participation and contribution as citizens...)

Educationally powerful connections are created by consistently referencing the formal and informal curriculum to the human rights of young people and others.

An orderly and supportive environment is created by building a culture of respect based on rights and responsibilities - including the right of every young person to learn, and the responsibility of teachers to facilitate such learning effectively - and reinforcing that culture through repeated referencing to human rights and responsibilities in varying contexts.

At the beginning of the school year, an indispensable tool for human rights messaging on the rights of all (including the right to education) is the development of classroom/school rights and responsibilities agreements.

See Rights and Responsibilities Agreements: joining the dots and Developing a Class Agreement.

Such human rights learning (or relearning) can be powerfully reinforced by classroom and school-wide reference to external anniversaries such as Waitangi Day (6 February, New Zealand's first rights document), international Women's Day (8 March), and Anzac Day (25 April, marking for many the struggle for human dignity and freedom).

*Share your stories of starting the year in the Human Rights in Education Forum. (You'll need to log-in or register on the website to contribute)