Responsible citizens? How children are conceptualised as rights holders in Irish primary schools

Educational aims of rights education in primary school – zooming in on teachers and pupils in two classes

“…Empathetic ability is indicated as a desirable result of rights education and it is (loosely) related to human rights action in the sense of being a driving force for helping people that are in troublesome life conditions. Interestingly, the restricted attention to empathetic ability as an educational aim in this study differs from findings in some earlier studies, which showed teachers tending to emphasise empathetic ability as a main aim of rights education (Leung, Yuen, and Chong 2011;Waldron and Oberman 2016). The teachers in this study (but no pupils) further articulate discussion participation ability as being an aim (social) of the education.…”

“…Teachers have further shown to be hesitant to educate children about rights, worrying that classroom behaviour might be negatively affected and that parents might question the teaching of rights (Leung, Yuen, and Chong 2011;Struthers 2016). Explorations of teachers' views of the aims of rights education are few, but the ones undertaken have found that teachers tend to hold forth the promotion of social relations and the installation of civil duties as main motives (Leung, Yuen, and Chong 2011;Waldron and Oberman 2016). The primary aim of rights education is then to develop responsibility for others and empathy for people in difficult circumstances.…”

A Critical Analysis of the Explicit and Implicit Treatment of Human Rights Education in Early Childhood Education Textbooks

“…There is a common belief among many adults, but especially teachers, practitioners and families, that children have too many rights and not enough responsibilities (Cassidy et al, 2014). In fact, Waldron and Oberman (2016) found that teachers recognize the importance of HRE but are more focused on promoting a culture of conformity and responsibility. Howe and Covell (2010) similarly noted that charging children with a set of obligations rather than rights constitutes miseducation.…”

Teachers’ Rights-Teaching Mentalities—What Teachers Do and Why

“…Teaching children about human rights is an important step towards strengthening human rights internationally. Schools are considered primary sites where children can develop human rights understandings, attitudes and behaviour (Osler & Solhaug, 2018), and teachers play a crucial role in how this education is enacted (Bajaj, 2011;Leung et al, 2011;Waldron & Oberman, 2016;Zembylas et al, 2017). To support successful human rights education, teachers, teacher educators and policymakers need knowledge about how different logics influence the performance of human rights education for children.…”