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Journal ArticleDOI

Children's rights education at the university level: An effective means of promoting rights knowledge and rights-based attitudes

Covell1, Campbell1
01 Jan 2001-The International Journal of Children's Rights (BRILL)-Vol. 9, Iss: 2, pp 123-135
About: This article is published in The International Journal of Children's Rights.The article was published on 2001-01-01. It has received 15 citations till now.
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluate the effectiveness of a children's rights education initiative in schools in Hampshire, England and provide data on how Hampshire educators were able to successfully implement their program.
Abstract: Evaluations of a children’s rights education initiative in schools in Hampshire, England — consistent with previous research findings — demonstrate the effectiveness of a framework of rights for school policy, practice, and teaching, for promoting rights-respecting attitudes and behaviors among children, and for improving the school ethos. The value of rights-consistent schooling is seen not only in its contemporaneous benefits on children, but also in its capacity to have a long-term effect on the promotion and maintenance of a rights-supporting culture. To this end, we provide data on how Hampshire educators were able to successfully implement their program. We examine schools that were very successful in incorporating children’s rights across the curriculum and throughout all school policies and practices, and compare their implementation efforts and experiences with schools that were less successful. By identifying the key variables that differentiate success, we aim to facilitate the implementation o...

72 citations


Cites background from "Children's rights education at the ..."

  • ...At least one study has shown that university students who learn about children’s rights show increased support for rights (Campbell and Covell, 2001), and teachers who teach children’s human rights themselves become more supportive of human rights (Covell et al., 2002)....

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  • ...At least one study has shown that university students who learn about children’s rights show increased support for rights (Campbell and Covell, 2001), and teachers who teach children’s human rights themselves...

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  • ...In contrast, understanding of the Convention and rights-supportive attitudes can be promoted among university students – including those training to become teachers (Campbell and Covell, 2001)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the post-secular turn is used to describe the discrediting of secularisation theory, the recognition of religion as an enduring and pervasive global cultural force, and the resulting emergence of a discourse that concedes different secularities and multiple modernities.
Abstract: This article questions whether human rights education (HRE) scholarship is responding adequately to the post secular turn in thinking about the place and nature of religion in society. Here the post secular turn is used to describe the discrediting of secularisation theory, the recognition of religion as an enduring and pervasive global cultural force, and the resulting emergence of a discourse that concedes different secularities and multiple modernities. This article identifies the turn, notes the emerging discourse and identifies the lack of an adequate response in UK HRE scholarship which seems wedded to an increasingly outdated theory of secularisation. It concludes by considering alternative possible resources for a more adequate response.

17 citations

Dissertation
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: In this paper, the empowerment potential of human rights and rights-based approaches for women in the unique transitional context of post-Soviet Russia has been examined, and it is argued that women's lack of rights protection is not a result of women's awareness of, or unwillingness to use human rights, but a result from their inability to access rights in a neo-liberal cultural and economic climate, which can be applied to women globally.
Abstract: With the collapse of the Soviet Union, neo-liberal models of governance have become dominant, and have increasingly been justified through the employment of human rights discourses. However, the increased use of human rights discourses has not resulted in the increased realisation of human rights, and feminists have highlighted how the gendered nature of transitions to democracy and the market have, in fact, limited women's access to rights. The profoundly negative impacts of marketisation, particularly for women, have been starkly illustrated in the social and economic transformations taking place in contemporary Russia. While the lack of realisation of human rights in Russia has been well-documented, much of this research has focused on macro-level analyses of Russia's consolidation of pre-defined human rights norms, or in highlighting examples of particular human rights violations. While the recognition and critique of human rights violations is an extremely important area of research, concentrating on pre-defined norms often fails to show the complexity of understandings and uses of human rights discourses in everyday life. Moreover, there is a lack of research that explores women's perceptions of human rights and rights based approaches, which is surprising given the international promotion of rights-based approaches as a means of women's empowerment. This thesis addresses this gap by critically evaluating the empowerment potential of human rights and rights-based approaches for women in the unique transitional context of post-Soviet Russia. The thesis draws on analysis of Russian press discourses and readers' letters to advice pages, and also from data generated in open-ended questionnaires, ethnographic in-depth interviews and interviews with local community and political elites in the provincial Russian city of Ul'ianovsk. The thesis shows the ways in which, both cultural norms and practical constraints impact on the perceived legitimacy of certain categories of rights, which in turn determine which issues are viewed as legitimate rights claims for women. Analysis of respondents' perceptions of rights indicate that, despite clearly identifiable examples of rights violations against women, the backlash to Soviet enforced equality has delegitimised claims for 'women's rights' protection. Moreover, respondents' also disassociate their claims from human rights, which are perceived to relate to specific examples of violations perpetrated by the state that predominantly affect men. Thus, women's rights claims have been re-privatised and re-conceptualised as personal problems to be resolved by women individually. While respondents did not perceive their everyday problems to be women's rights or human rights claims, respondents did talk about 'rights' and were attempting to access and claim rights. The thesis shows how the continued legitimacy of Soviet social and economic rights led respondents to employ rights discourses to express a sense of loss of previously held rights, and also to articulate their confusion and frustration over the shifting legitimacy of rights that has resulted in the need to 'claim' what was previously guaranteed. However, respondents' were attempting to negotiate these shifts in legitimacy and attempt to claim rights, but identified several practical constraints that make this a difficult process. I show that while respondents' are attempting to use rights-based approaches, this has not resulted in women's empowerment. Analysis of respondents' experiences of making a legal claim shows the profoundly negative and disempowering effects that legalistic approaches to claiming rights can have for women in transitional contexts. While the thesis highlights women's experience in transitional contexts, these findings can be used to reassess claims about the empowerment potential of human rights and rights based approaches for women globally. The thesis concludes by arguing that Russian women's lack of rights protection is not a result of women's lack of awareness of, or unwillingness to use rights-based approaches, but a result of their inability to access rights in a neo-liberal cultural and economic climate, which can be applied to the experiences of women globally.

14 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a qualitative research approach was utilised in which in-depth interviews were conducted with senior child care professionals in Northern Ireland in order to understand how these rights are conceptualised in practice.
Abstract: The twentieth century began with children having virtually no universally accepted rights but ended with the most powerful international legal instrument supporting their rights: the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The challenge for interested parties in the twenty-first century is effective implementation of this Convention. However, it is also important to consider whether in practice the concept of children's rights is interpreted to protect children's interests or their choices. Whilst child care professionals are a key group for the effective implementation of children's rights, little empirical evidence exists on how they conceptualise children's rights. Therefore, an exploration of the views of child care professionals was undertaken to inform insights into how these rights are conceptualised in practice. A qualitative research approach was utilised in which in-depth interviews were conducted with senior child care professionals in Northern Ireland. The findings indicated that...

13 citations


Cites background from "Children's rights education at the ..."

  • ...However, little evidence exists on how they conceptualise children’s rights (Campbell & Covell, 2001); instead, most studies focus on children’s understanding of their rights....

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