Knowledge, skills and attitudes
Knowledge and understanding: Learning about human rights
What type of knowledge or understanding do children need to possess in order to be able to recognise human rights in their daily lives? Which skills and attitudes do they need, in order for a culture of human rights to flourish? Compasito seeks to answer these questions both in the background information it provides for facilitators and in the activities it recommends for children’s learning about human rights. Together, these help to support a holistic approach that embraces learning about human rights, learning for human rights and learning through human rights.
Although a child’s understanding of human rights depends partly on their maturity, in general it ought to include the following basic ideas:
- Human rights provide standards of behaviour which are applicable in the family setting, at school, in the community and in the wider world
- Human rights standards are universally accepted: every country around the world has accepted them, at least in principle; they apply to everyone everywhere
- Every child has human rights, and every child is responsible for respecting the rights of others. Children’s rights include so-called protection, provision and participation rights
- All children’s rights are laid down in the Convention of the Rights of the Child. Other legal documents also exist to safeguard human rights, for example:
- the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR), at international level
- the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), at regional level
- Bills of rights or human rights protections in a country’s constitution often exist at national level.
Skills: Learning for human rights
Children need to acquire the skills that will enable them to participate in democratic society and contribute to building a culture of human rights. Skills and competences for human rights include:
- Critical thinking: distinguishing between fact and opinion, being aware of prejudice and preconceptions, recognising forms of manipulation
- Co-operating in group work and addressing conflict positively
- Consensus building
- Participating democratically in activities with peers
- Expressing ideas and opinions with confidence
- Problem solving.
Attitudes: Learning through human rights
Human rights are not just legal documents, relevant to politicians, lawyers and activists. They are also principles for how people, including children, should live together. However, because they are mainly visible through the actions they inform, human rights values and attitudes are perhaps the most difficult aspect of human rights education. For the same reason, they are also arguably the most important aspect. Children learn as much or more from unspoken examples as they do from actual lessons – and they have a keen sense of hypocrisy! It is important for everyone who works with children to model the human rights values they wish to impart.
Attitudes to be developed in human rights education include:
- Respect for self and others
- A sense of responsibility for one’s own actions
- Curiosity, an open mind and an appreciation of diversity
- Empathy, solidarity with others, and a commitment to support those whose human rights are denied
- A sense of human dignity, of self-worth and of others’ worth, irrespective of social, cultural, linguistic or religious differences
- A sense of justice and social responsibility, to ensure that everyone is treated fairly
- The desire to contribute to the betterment of the school or community
- Caring for environmental sustainability and the future of humanity
- The confidence to promote human rights both locally and globally.