/pdf/changing-citizenship-democracy-and-inclusion-in-education-2kzwajo59c.pdf

Changing citizenship: democracy and inclusion in education

Students’ Perspectives on Schooling

A large body of work in recent years has examined different scholarly conceptualizations of human rights (Dembour 2006) and various approaches in Human Rights Education (HRE), particularly in relation to practical ways of implementing HRE programs in formal and informal education (Bajaj 2011a; Banks 2008; Osler and Starkey 2010; Tibbits 2002). However, few studies have sought to systematically examine teachers’ understandings of human rights and HRE in specific contexts (Messina and Jacott 2013) and explore possible links between teachers’ understandings of human rights and human rights teaching. As education policy studies have demonstrated, teachers have a central and decisive role in interpreting a policy and translating it into everyday practices (Ball 1998; Hill 2001; Walshaw and Anthony 2007). With the growing interest in HRE and the ongoing debates around the conceptualization of human rights and HRE, e.g., around the definition of human rights as universal entitlements or socio-political constructs, it becomes important to take a careful look at how teachers, who are called upon to implement HRE programs, understand human rights and human rights teaching (Cassidy et al. 2013). Taking this assumption as a point of departure in the context of conflict-ridden Cyprus, this paper investigates the ways in which a group of Greek-Cypriot primary school teachers interprets the meaning of human rights and HRE. Cyprus has been and remains deeply divided due to the protracted nature of conflict between the two main communities of the island, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. Cyprus has been a divided society, since violent intercommunal clashes in 1963–1967; in 1974, Turkey Hum Rights Rev (2015) 16:161–182 DOI 10.1007/s12142-014-0331-5

Primary School Teachers' Understandings of Human Rights and Human Rights Education (HRE) in Cyprus: An Exploratory Study

Internationally there have been serious efforts to identify effective modes of delivering civic education for preparing youth for the future challenges of citizenship. This article addresses the research question, 'why is an independent subject not preferred in civic education by Hong Kong civic education teachers?'. It starts with a brief review of international debates and of the development of civic education policy in Hong Kong. Then it moves on to discuss why teachers tend to reject civic education as an independent subject based on the findings from an interview informed research study. The findings reveal that teachers' misunderstandings of the nature of civic education are the major reasons. Treating civic education as comprising educational activities involving the nurturing of attitudes, values and skills of students with little content knowledge, the teachers consider that civic education is best accomplished through, for example, extra-curricular activities and not as a subject that demands time slots in the school timetable. It is argued that these misunderstandings will have negative impacts on the effectiveness of civic education, which is unfavourable to the nurturing of democratic cultures necessary for the development of the democratic system in Hong Kong and has to be rectified. Lastly, some recommendations for rectification that relate to civil society are discussed. Hopefully, this article can shed light on the understanding of the preferences towards the modes of implementation of front line practitioners in schools internationally, since this phenomenon is common in some other nations.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2304/csee.2014.13.1.2

Delivering Civic Education in Hong Kong: Why Is It Not an Independent Subject?.

From 2009 to 2011, the authors launched the Basic Law Education Project: Education for Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Hong Kong. This article focuses on a subset of the overarching data-set and discusses the findings that resulted from a comparative analysis of two participating schools. A survey was deployed to assess the extent to which a human rights friendly ethos existed in several institutions. Randomly selected students and all teachers from both schools were invited to participate. The collected data revealed noteworthy trends in mean scores between teachers and students in areas such as equal and fair treatment; protection of and appeal for rights; and feelings of being loved, respected, and blessed. School mission and leadership style appeared to account for significant differences. Additionally, we offer recommendations for practices that may improve human rights ethos in schools.

Exploring school ethos: an investigation of children’s human rights in two secondary institutions in Hong Kong

As in most countries, human rights education (HRE) in Hong Kong has never been high on the educational agenda. In 2009, a compulsory subject, Liberal Studies (LS), which could be used as a platform for HRE, was introduced. The Hong Kong Institute of Education launched a research and development project which, as one of its objectives, studied LS teachers’ attitudes towards human rights and Rule of Law. This article first provides a brief overview of HRE. Then, the potential of HRE in LS will be discussed, followed by an introduction of the research project. Subsequently, the research design and findings will be presented. The findings reveal that there is a large gap between teachers’ understandings of human rights and international human rights standards. Since LS teachers’ attitudes are crucial for effective HRE, the findings are quite striking. The paper ends with recommendations for further research, policy formulations, and teacher preparation.

Yan Lam 盧恩臨 Lo

Papers

Are Liberal Studies teachers ready to prepare human rights respecting students? A portrait of teachers’ attitudes towards human rights