Archived decisions

Contact: Ian Massey - County Inspector - Intercultural Education (01252 814772)

1. Summary

1.1 The Education Department is launching a major initiative focused, initially, on primary schools. It sets out to teach children about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Its aim is to encourage each school to base its ethos and code of behaviour on the Convention and therefore on the rights of people, adults and children, and the responsibilities that they have to each other.

1.2 There are high hopes, based on research from elsewhere, that the project will have an impact on pupils' self esteem, their behaviour and their academic standards. The project will also help to further the requirements placed on schools in respect of Citizenship and fulfil new Ofsted/Audit Commission inspection criteria that insist that LEAs take account of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

1.3 There are further hopes, backed by evidence, that the project in the longer term will have the potential to transform schools and their communities. Nothing of this type is being attempted on this scale anywhere in the world.

2 Introduction

2.1 The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified in 1989, has the potential to fill something of a vacuum, especially relevant to non-faith based schools. Through Article 42, it places an obligation on signatories to make adults and children aware of these rights. Only two of the 193 member states have failed to sign it. Its important in this project is that the principles enshrined within it, which are in no sense inimical to the precepts of the great world religions, but are separate from them, are universal and intended to govern human behaviour across the world. It gives schools, teachers and children, the opportunity to point to an Authority that is higher than their classroom, the school or their community.

2.2 Young children, in particular, are attracted to notions of universality. School is usually the first step into a much larger community than the family. Once there, they like to feel not just citizens of the school but also citizens of the world.

3 Background

3.1 The Hampshire project is based on work already undertaken, and evaluated, in Canada. Staff from the University College of Cape Breton have done extensive work in the schools of Cape Breton, an area suffering the decline of its traditional heavy industries. There has been explicit teaching of the UN Convention. Teachers model rights, and rights-respecting behaviour, in all their teaching and relationships.

3.2 There is continuous reinforcement of the message in corridors and display areas. Classrooms feature charters of Rights and Responsibilities devised in partnership and applicable to adults and children. The approach becomes integrated within the rest of the curriculum and there is evidence of considerable impact on attitudes, values, behaviour and learning.

4 The Hampshire Project

4.1 Initial Work

4.1.1 some pilot work has already been undertaken in schools in Andover and Eastleigh. Most of this work has taken place in schools where the Headteacher and/or other teachers were part of the study tour to Cape Breton.

4.1.2 early evaluations from the work in Hampshire schools have come to broadly the same conclusions as those of the work in Nova Scotia. Some remarkable changes have occurred in classrooms where this work has been undertaken, to such an extent that, in one school, other teachers who have not been involved in the programme are very eager to join. There is already evidence, too, that pupils are beginning to use the language of human rights in their classroom discussions.

4.2 Plans for the Future

4.2.1 A steering group chaired by the Deputy County Education Officer has been established. A `training team' consisting of headteachers, inspector/advisers, English and mathematics consultants and teachers has been set up under the leadership of Ian Massey, County Inspector/Adviser for Intercultural Education.

4.2.2 There have been briefings for the Executive of Primary Headteachers Conference and for all the area groups of primary heads. The reaction has been very enthusiastic. People seem to feel that this work will build on the strengths already in schools and will provide a unifying force.

4.2.3 A series of daylong training events will be held between January and March 2004. Two hundred primary schools will be represented and places are available for the Headteacher and one other teacher from each school. Everything that is known about training teachers through courses suggests that two people attending the event, together, yields far more benefit than one. The focus of the training will be the UN Convention, the rights of the child, and how to teach these effectively to children of different ages.

4.2.4 A series of networks will be established across the county of teachers who are most actively working in this area in their schools so that they have an opportunity to learn from each others and to explore the issues that will arise.

4.2.5 The evaluation of the project will be through a combination of pupil and school questionnaires from the Education department and Sussex University staff from who will also carry out some of the fieldwork.

Recommendation

That SACRE notes the report.

Background Papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

Section 100D - Local Government Act 1972 - Background Documents

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1. Published works.

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