Love and marriage. Salt and vinegar (guess where I’m not from). Peters and Lee (every NQT in the land shouts ‘WHO?’). Like these timeless duos, rights and responsibilities have, for teachers, always gone hand in hand. And with good reason – the responsibility element has traditionally been the mechanism schools have used to ensure rights have had, well – their rightful place, and that anarchy is generally avoided.
Since 2013, there have been moves, led by guidance from Unicef’s Rights Respecting Schools award, towards decoupling these two terms. Understandably at times, this has been tricky for teachers and schools to navigate. Scotland’s DECs have been offering training in Rights-based learning during this time, through which we examine the separation of these terms. On occasion, teachers express palpable apprehension that the growing profile of Rights-based learning is leading to a pendulum swing towards children being very Rights-aware, with nothing to counterbalance what might be interpreted as something of a free for all.
While Rights-based learning is not in itself designed as a behaviour management tool, well-planned communication of them can have a positive impact in this way
The language of rights
The theory behind separating the two terms is sound – children’s rights are universal and inalienable. Children have them by virtue of being born. To quote Unicef guidance (PDF), Rights are therefore “...unconditional; they are...not dependent upon a responsibility and cannot be taken away, earned or used as a reward.”
This clarification is necessary and useful, but where does it leave busy teachers, faced on occasion with the confident young individual we all hope to foster, who is only too keen to exercise her inalienable right to play and socialise in the middle of your well-planned lesson on percentages? While Rights-based learning is not in itself designed as a behaviour management tool, well-planned communication of them can have a positive impact in this way.
Children’s Rights are universal and inalienable
Rights respecting behaviour
Helpfully, then, a great deal of thinking has gone into this, and a framework has been developed which can support teachers to navigate the sometimes complex situations which arise around rights, and when these are seen to be in tension. Again, Unicef language on this provides a useful guide. Human rights are unconditional. They are also “universal, so ... children should be encouraged to respect rights, so that each individual child can enjoy their rights and respect the rights of others.” (Clarifying Rights, Respect and Responsibilities in the Rights Respecting School Award (RRSA), Unicef). This is the starting point for developing learners’ understanding of rights respecting behaviour, and the expectation that they conduct themselves in a way which ensures their own rights and the rights of others are respected. Rights in conjunction with respect, and respecting others, helps shape the responsible citizens of the future.
This is broken down further, and Rights may be:
- Limited - if there is a danger in a playground teaching staff may limit the child’s right to play until the danger has passed
- Qualified - everyone has a right to an opinion but not in a way that denies another person’s rights or discriminates against them
- Prioritised – a child’s right to receive care for a head injury is prioritised above their right to play
Within a school context, teachers are duty-bearers of children’s rights. Therefore, when rights come into conflict, it is helpful for us, as professionals, to be able to articulate to children why a particular right is being limited, qualified or prioritised. When teachers are supported to begin reframing rights in this way, it allows them to foreground the UNCRC and Children’s Rights for learners, while allowing the normal business of schools to continue. For teachers keen to begin exploring the more complex subtleties of Rights with young people, Thinking Rights (PDF) provides a range of activities to support this.
Access to clean water, unfair and unsustainable trade, hunger and food inequality, among many others – arise as a direct result of human rights being denied
Global Citizenship
It is reasonable to ask where the overlap is between Rights and Global Citizenship. For Scotland’s DECs, they are, quite simply, two sides of the same coin. The issues which Global Citizenship supports teachers and learners to explore and challenge – access to clean water, unfair and unsustainable trade, hunger and food inequality, among many others – arise as a direct result of Human Rights being denied to individuals and communities, whether locally or globally.
Further, the values and skills of Global Citizenship – critical and creative thinking, empathy, co-operation and conflict resolution, informed and reflective action, respect for people and Humans Rights ‘Education for Global Citizenship: a guide for schools’ – see Oxfam – are ones which foster behaviours in children which support them to become the responsible, active, Rights-respecting citizens of tomorrow.
