Towards a New Improved Pedagogy of “Children’s Rights and Responsibilities”
In: The International Journal of Children's RightsSearch for other papers by Harry Shier in
Current site
Google Scholar
There is evidence from around the world that teaching on “rights and responsibilities” in schools is confused and ill-informed; as a result, children are misled and manipulated. Child researchers in Nicaragua discovered new evidence to support this view. An examination of the literature in search of guidance on how to teach children about rights and responsibilities found no consensus, but revealed eight different ways in which the relationship between children’s rights and responsibilities has been conceptualised: (1) Rights imply duties of a duty-bearer; (2) Rights imply responsibilities by reciprocity; (3) Responsibilities can be inferred from human rights instruments; (4) Some legal instruments define both rights and responsibilities for children; (5) Cultural and religious traditions may emphasise responsibilities, but rights can still be promoted in a way that is sensitive to these traditions; (6) Responsibilities can be paired with rights as part of classroom management strategies; (7) “Citizenship” can be taught as a contractual arrangement involving rights and responsibilities of the citizen; and (8) Children, as active citizens, can take on responsibilities, including the promotion and defence of their own rights and the rights of others. The challenge for educators is to develop a pedagogical approach that can encompass all of the above in a way that is appropriate, relevant and not confusing to children.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Asamblea Nacional de Nicaragua, Código de la Niñez y la Adolescencia (Ley 287) (Managua: Asamblea Nacional de Nicaragua, 1998).
-
Besson S. , “The bearers of human rights duties and responsibilities for human rights: A quiet (r)evolution?”, Human Rights 2015 (3(3)), 193–215.
-
Browning D.S. and Bunge, M.J. Children and childhood in world religions: Primary sources and texts (Newark: Rutgers University Press, 2009).
-
Cantwell N. , “Are children’s rights still human? ” in Invernizzi A. and Williams J. (eds.), Human Rights of Children: From visions to implementation (Farnham: Ashgate, 2011) 37–60.
-
cescr (Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights), General Comment No. 3: States’ Obligations (No. E/1991/23) (New York: United Nations, 1990).
-
cesesma, Learn to Live without Violence: Transformative research by children and young people, ed. Shier H. (Preston: University of and CESESMA, 2012). Online: www.harryshier.net/docs/CESESMA-Learn_to_live_without_violence.pdf.
-
Cobbah J.A.M. , “African values and the human rights debate: An African perspective”, Human Rights Quarterly 1987 (9(3)), 309–331.
-
Council of Europe, Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education (Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 2010).
-
Cradock G. , “The responsibility dance: Creating neoliberal children”, Childhood 2007 (14(2)), 153–172.
-
Cunningham S. and Lavalette, M. “‘Active citizens’ or ‘irresponsible truants’? School student strikes against the war”, Critical Social Policy 2004 (24(2)), 255–69.
-
Donnelly J. , “How are rights and duties correlative?”, Journal of Value Inquiry 1982 (16(4)), 287–294.
-
Eide A. , Report on the right to adequate food as a human right (No. E/cn.4/Sub.2/1987/23) (New York: United Nations, 1987).
-
Etinson A. , “Human rights, claimability, and the uses of abstraction”, Utilitas 2013 (25(4)), 463–486.
-
Feinberg J. , Social Philosophy (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1973).
-
Goodin R.E. , “Responsibilities”, The Philosophical Quarterly 1986 (36(142)), 50–56.
-
Gosselin A. , “Global poverty and responsibility: Identifying the duty-bearers of human rights”, Human Rights Review 2006 (8(1)), 35–52.
-
Hale Reed J. , “Early Marriage as a Violation of Human Rights”, Indonesian Journal of International and Comparative Law 2014 (1(1)), 151–217.
-
Hart R.A. , Children’s Participation: From Tokenism to Citizenship (Florence: UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, 1992).
-
Howe R.B. and Covell, K. “Miseducating children about their rights”, Education, Citizenship and Social Justice 2010 (5(2)), 91–102.
-
Jerome L. , “Children’s rights and teachers’ responsibilities” in Mitchell R.C. and Moore S.A. (eds.), Politics, Participation & Power Relations (Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2012) 101–117.
-
Jerome L. , England’s Citizenship Education Experiment: State, School and Student Perspectives (London: Continuum, 2013).
-
Kaime T. , “The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the cultural legitimacy of children’s rights in Africa: Some reflections”, African Human Rights Law Journal , 2005 (5(2)), 221–238.
-
Kelly P. , “Youth at risk: Processes of individualisation and responsibilisation in the risk society”, Discourse 2001 (22(1)), 23–33.
-
Khosla R. , Banerjee, J. , Chou, D. , Say, L. and Fried, S.T. , “Gender equality and human rights approaches to female genital mutilation”, Reproductive Health, 2017 (14(59)), 1–9.
-
Lansdown G. , Craissati, D. , Banerjee, U.D. , King, L. and Smith, A. , A Human Rights Based Approach to Education For All (New York: UNICEF, 2007).
-
Liebenberg L. , Ungar, M. and Ikeda, J. , “Neo-liberalism and responsibilisation in the discourse of social service workers”, British Journal of Social Work 2013 (45(3)), 1006–1021.
-
López Hurtado C.E. , Derechos de Papel y el Papel de los Derechos: Aplicación de la Convención de los Derechos del Niño y de los Códigos de La Niñez y la Adolescencia en Centroamérica (Managua: Procuraduría para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, 2003).
-
Lundy L. and McEvoy, L. , “Childhood, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and research: What constitutes a ‘rights-based’ approach?” in Freeman M. (ed.), Law and Childhood (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012) 75–93.
-
Mejias S. and Starkey, H. , “Critical citizens or neo-liberal consumers? Utopian visions and pragmatic uses of human rights education in a secondary school in England” in Mitchell R.C. and Moore S.A. (eds.), Politics, Participation and Power Relations (Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2012) 119–136.
-
Mhaka-Mutepfa M. , Maree, J.G. and Chiganga, G. , “Towards respecting children’s rights, obligations and responsibilities: The Zimbabwean case”, School Psychology International 2014 (35(3)), 241–252.
-
Momoh C. , “Female genital mutilation” in Squire C. (ed.), The Social Context of Birth (Abingdon: Routledge, 2017), 143–158.
-
Nickel J.W. , “How human rights generate duties to protect and provide”, Human Rights Quarterly 1993 (15), 77–86.
-
Niñas y Niños Investigadores, “Aprendiendo de niñas, niños y adolescentes investigadoras/es: Hacia una nueva pedagogía de derechos y deberes”, Rayuela (Mexico) 2014 (10), 131–142.
-
Organization for African Unity, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (Addis Ababa: African Union, 1990).
-
Osler A. and Starkey, H. , “Rights and responsibilities” in Osler A. (ed.), Changing Citizenship: Democracy and Inclusion in Education (Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2005) 154–167.
-
Perry R. , “Correlativity”, Law and philosophy 2009 (28(6)), 537–584.
-
Quyen L. , Zaharim, N. , Hao, N. and Van Son, H. , “The Concept of Responsibilities among 5th Grade Students from Ethnic Minority Groups in Viet Nam”, Asian Social Science 2013 (9(9)), 99–106.
-
Saeidi M. , Ajilian, M. , Farhangi, H. and Khodaei, G.H. , “Rights of Children and Parents in Holy Quran”, International Journal of Pediatrics 2014 (2(3.2)), 103–113.
-
Sasson V.R. , Little Buddhas: Children and childhoods in Buddhist texts and traditions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012).
-
Shier H. , “Children as researchers in Nicaragua: Children’s consultancy to transformative research”, Global Studies of Childhood 2015 (5(2)), 206–219.
-
Shier H. , Children’s Rights in School: The perception of children in Nicaragua (Belfast: Queen’s University Belfast, 2016). Online: http://www.harryshier.net/docs/Shier-Childrens_Rights_in_School.pdf.
-
Shier H. , “Why the playworker’s mind-set is ideal for research with children” in King P. and Newstead S. (eds.), Researching Play from a Playwork Perspective (Abingdon: Routledge, 2017) 8–24.
-
Shier H. , Hernández Méndez, M. , Centeno, M. , Arróliga, I. and González, M. , “How children and young people influence policy-makers: Lessons from Nicaragua”, Children & Society 2014 (28(1)), 1–14.
-
Shier H. , Padilla, M.L. , Molina, N. , Barrera, L. , Molina, M. , Castillo, Z. and Ortiz, K. , “Claiming the right to quality education in Nicaragua” in Blue-Swadener B. , Lundy L. , Blanchet-Cohen N. and Habashi J. (eds.), Children’s Rights and Education: International Perspectives (New York: Peter Lang, 2013) 188–202.
-
Shue H. , Basic Rights: Subsistence, Affluence, and us Foreign Policy (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996/work originally published in 1980).
-
Sloth-Nielsen J. and Mezmur, B.D. , “A dutiful child: The implications of Article 31 of the African Children’s Charter”, Journal of African Law 2008 (52(2)), 159–189.
-
Smith A.B. , “Children as citizens and partners in strengthening communities”, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 2010 (80(1)), 103–108.
-
Such E. and Walker, R. , “Young citizens or policy objects? Children in the ‘Rights and Responsibilities’ debate”, Journal of Social Policy 2005 (34(1)), 39–57.
-
Theis J. , “Children as active citizens: An agenda for children’s civil rights and civic engagement” in Percy-Smith B. and Thomas N. (eds.), A Handbook of Children and Young People’s Participation. Perspectives from Theory and Practice (Abingdon: Routledge, 2009) 343–355.
-
Trivers H. and Starkey, H. , “The politics of critical citizenship education” in Mitchell R.C. and Moore S.A. (eds.), Politics, Participation and Power Relations (Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2012) 137–151.
-
Twum-Danso A. , “Reciprocity, respect and responsibility: The 3Rs underlying parent–child relationships in Ghana and the implications for children’s rights”, International Journal of Children’s Rights 2009 (17), 415–432.
-
uk Committee for unicef, Little Book of Children’s Rights and Responsibilities (London: UK Committee for UNICEF, 2003).
-
United Nations, Statement of Common Understanding on a Human Rights-Based Approach to Development Co-operation (New York: United Nations, 2003).
-
Zwart T. , “Using local culture to further the implementation of international human rights”, Human Rights Quarterly 2012 (34(2)), 546–569.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1467 | 143 | 18 |
| Full Text Views | 261 | 6 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 305 | 16 | 0 |
Towards a New Improved Pedagogy of “Children’s Rights and Responsibilities”
In: The International Journal of Children's RightsSearch for other papers by Harry Shier in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
There is evidence from around the world that teaching on “rights and responsibilities” in schools is confused and ill-informed; as a result, children are misled and manipulated. Child researchers in Nicaragua discovered new evidence to support this view. An examination of the literature in search of guidance on how to teach children about rights and responsibilities found no consensus, but revealed eight different ways in which the relationship between children’s rights and responsibilities has been conceptualised: (1) Rights imply duties of a duty-bearer; (2) Rights imply responsibilities by reciprocity; (3) Responsibilities can be inferred from human rights instruments; (4) Some legal instruments define both rights and responsibilities for children; (5) Cultural and religious traditions may emphasise responsibilities, but rights can still be promoted in a way that is sensitive to these traditions; (6) Responsibilities can be paired with rights as part of classroom management strategies; (7) “Citizenship” can be taught as a contractual arrangement involving rights and responsibilities of the citizen; and (8) Children, as active citizens, can take on responsibilities, including the promotion and defence of their own rights and the rights of others. The challenge for educators is to develop a pedagogical approach that can encompass all of the above in a way that is appropriate, relevant and not confusing to children.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1467 | 143 | 18 |
| Full Text Views | 261 | 6 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 305 | 16 | 0 |