Rights, Respect & Responsibilities Presentation

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Aims

Introduce the evidence and rationale for the use of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as the basis for enhancing teaching, learning, ethos, attitudes and behaviour.
Offer age appropriate activities to promote teaching and learning.
Share examples of existing practice.
Offer opportunities for reflection
Offer supportive follow-up activities.

Responsibility of the Government as a consequence of ratifying the Convention. Article 42
Evidence of impact on teaching and learning, behaviour, attitudes and values in Cape Breton, Canada and Hampshire UK.
The potential for transforming schools & communities.
DfES interest. They are funding this training

Grade 8 13-14 year olds

Young adults

Those that received the rights curriculum perceived their classmates to be more accepting of others. Children believed that there were greater levels of peer & teacher support.
Adolescents showed higher self-esteem and also felt valued.
Children were more optimistic about their future.
Children’s increased knowledge about their rights improved behaviour and their understanding of the importance of rights for all.
Teaching children’s rights necessitated more democratic, egalitarian styles of teaching.
When teachers model rights the atmosphere of classrooms is perceived to be more supportive.
Teachers reported a real impact on classroom behaviour (more time spent on teaching). Much more positive atmosphere.
The research suggests a ‘contagion’ effect, in that learning about one’s own rights results in support for the rights of others, including adults’ and teachers’ right to teach.
The more teachers used the rights curriculum the higher they rated it. (This included those who were instructed to use it and not just volunteers.)
Student support for the rights of adults, ethnic minorities and those with disabilities, were significantly related to their teacher’s support for children’s rights.
Children talk more to parents about what they do at school.
Improvements in psychological comfort at school and achievement expectations.

	Curriculum %	Non-curriculum %
Don’t know	01	28
Freedom to do what you want	19	41
Freedom within limits	22	01
Protection from abuse and exploitation	22	07
Feeling good and safe	19	17
Being entitled to education	10	01
Having your basic needs met (family, food, shelter)	13	00
Being treated equally	10	16
Being free to play with friends	06	00

	Curriculum %	Non-curriculum %
Don’t know	01	38
To education	47	06
To basic needs met (food, shelter, home, health)	46	06
To be protected from abuse	34	02
To have friends	29	16
To have freedom within limits	21	00
To be free to do what they want	09	30
To have a family and home life	19	02
To be respected and treated fairly	26	27
To their own identity (language, culture, religion)	08	00
To material possession	02	00

	Curriculum	Non-curriculum
Classroom environment Minimum score = 22: Maximum score = 110 (higher score indicates greater sense of attraction to and acceptance by classmates)	82.22	78.58
Perceived teacher support Minimum score = 5: Maximum score = 25 (higher score indicates greater perceived support from classroom teacher)	21.64	16.59
Perceived peer support Minimum score = 15: Maximum score = 75 (higher score indicates greater perceived support from peers in class)	62.37	58. 18

Pupils more interested in their work, higher levels of motivation
More ‘adult’ behaviour from Year 6 – less quarrelsome, more responsible
Those with challenging behaviour take time out in a ‘calmer’ manner
Improvement in class ethos, relationships
Pupils feel they are listened to & shown more respect. More opportunities for speaking & listening
Pupils talking more to parents about what they do at school
Follow up their work at home – on the internet
More wider-world awareness
Changes in teacher style – more democratic
Quality of literacy work higher
Have been heard to tell other children to be quiet as they have a right to an education

There is explicit teaching of the UN Convention, similar to a body of knowledge.
Children learn they have rights – now, solely because they are children. They are not earned or are awarded at a certain age.
It appeals initially to pupils’ self-interest, through which they learn about their responsibilities - the corollary of rights.
There is continuous reinforcement of the message in corridors and display areas.
All adults model rights respecting behaviours and promote a culture of respect in classrooms.
The approach is integrated into a range of subjects (not just PSHE).
A consistent democratic, egalitarian teaching style.
The universality of the Convention appeals to children and young people.
It avoids the teachers’ or the schools’ values being seen as isolated examples of political correctness.
It allows teachers to be confident about values and not to concern themselves that they are imposing theirs on children who may not have them.
It acts as a framework for a lot of the schools’ work.
It allows teachers, schools and children to point to an Authority that is higher than their classroom, the school, their community or their country. It is particularly appropriate in a secular world in the 21st Century
It demonstrates that codes of conduct are not unique to each school, but come from a set of world-wide principles, informed by the moral precepts of the world religions, but not religious.