Five Ways to embed Children’s Rights in School
Teaching children about, for and through Children’s Rights is now a legal requirement as part of the Curriculum for Wales. Although Human rights are specifically mentioned in the Humanities and Health and Well-being Areas of Learning, it is more importantly a Cross Cutting theme, meaning that it should be encompassed in all Areas of Learning.
Here are some ways that you can help your school to fulfil its legal duty of teaching Human Rights Education.
1.Use a cross curricular approach
Human Rights are mentioned specifically in the Humanities and Health and Well-Being Areas of Learning as early as Progression Step 1. However, children should be taught about their human rights across the Curriculum and links can be made over all AOLE’s, not just Humanities and Health and Well being.
Through Language Literacy and Communication, many UNCRC articles can be explored, including Article 30- the right to speak your own language. This could be linked to Mathematic and Numeracy by gathering data on the number of different languages spoken by members of the school community.
Article 27 says that everyone has the right to a proper home, a challenge could be set in Science and Technology to design a home in various environments such as the woods, desert, snow etc. To differentiate for older children, they could be challenged to think about other rights and how they could be met. E.g. Article 24- the Right to clean water, heathy food and a clean environment.
When discussions are being had about behaviour expectations in class or when creating a class charter, links can be made to the UNCRC and specifically to Article 2. Everyone under 18 has these rights no matter what.
Charity and Awareness days can be a useful way of linking to Human Rights. If the children are dressed in pyjamas and bringing in £1 for Children In Need or wearing odd socks for Down Syndrome day or Anti Bullying day, use this as a way to talk about the challenges some children face in accessing their rights and the reason for these awareness days to help all children to enjoy their rights. You can speak to the children about people who can help when someone feels they are not getting their rights met, such as The Children’s Legal Centre Wales or The Children’s Commissioner for Wales.
The Right Way is a clear document for those working in education settings with ways to use a Children’s Rights Approach in schools.
2.Link children’s rights to story books
Nursery pupils as young as three can begin to learn and talk about their Human Rights. A great way to do this is through stories. Children have a wonderful sense of empathy and will often ask lots of questions when listening to stories. Choose picture books that can lead to discussions about specific human rights. A character being hungry could link to Article 24. The Three Little Pigs could be linked to Article 27 and discussions about homes. A list of books that can be linked to Children’s Rights can be found on the Children’s Commissioner for Wales website as well as a video sharing ideas for how books can be used which you can watch here;
https://x.com/childcomwales/status/1754595246350925910
Using Philosophy for Children P4C is also an excellent way to give young people the opportunity to explore and discuss Children’s Rights. Articles such as 2, 38 and 23 and concepts such as identity, race, war, punishment, can be explored through books such as;
War and Peas by Michael Foreman
Lion in the Meadow by Margaret Mahy
Little Hotchpotch by Brian Patten & Mike Terry
Tusk Tusk by David McKee
Why? by Nikolai Popov
Choices by Roozeboos
3.Get everyone on board
Having worked with many teachers who are ‘Children’s Rights Leads’ in schools, it is important to get the whole school and wider community on board. Providing opportunities for children to learn about their rights shouldn’t be placed on one teacher alone. The Children’s Commissioner for Wales office offers an ambassadors scheme that provides an exciting and interactive way for children in your school to learn about their rights, in accordance with the UNCRC, which underpins the Welsh Government’s vision for education. The Rights Respecting Schools Award led by UNICEF gives Lead Teachers training and resources ideas for teaching human rights in their school.
But one teacher alone cannot do it, and often these teachers find this job a lonely one if they are the only one flying the flag and gathering evidence.
Schools need a Senior Leadership Team that is supportive that will allow Leads time out of class to not only further their own knowledge of children’s rights but to prepare training sessions for the whole school staff so that information is shared across the school.
Whole staff training can be found on the Hwb platform here.
Another important element is to share the work you have been doing with parents and the wider community. Many schools who have a focus on a Right of the Month include this on communication with parents such as newsletters. Or invite parents in so they can see the work that the school has been carrying out on Children’s Rights.
Ysgol Gymraeg Pontardawe have a rights mascot ‘Harri Hawliau’ that is sent home with the different reception pupil each weekend. The children then report back to the class on what rights they have enjoyed with Harri over the weekend. This not only encourages the children to become confident talking about their rights but enables parents and wider family to become familiar with Children’s Rights too.
4.Form a children’s rights steering group
The children in your school will have their own unique set of interests and issues based upon their lived experiences. By setting up a Children’s Rights Steering group you can gather the thoughts of children in your school and ask them what issues they feel should be explored and how they feel challenges can be overcome.
From Nursery to Year 13 pupils, all children have the right to be listened to and taken seriously. Set up regular meetings where pupils can come together to share ideas and make future plans. Make sure that the ideas of the children are taken on board and feedback is given. This will help towards achieving Principles 4 and 5 of The Right Way.
As well as steering group meetings, g
ive children a method of sharing ideas and issues informally throughout the school day by providing an ideas/ suggestion box. Share your successes with the whole school using an exciting display board. We love the ‘We said it, You did it’ board used by Gnoll Primary School to share the work that each pupil voice group has been carrying out across the school.
5.Make links with other schools and counties
Article 2 says that All Children under 18 have these rights. It is important for children to realise that it is not only themselves that have rights. All children in their school, community, city, and country have these rights. But also, children in other countries. Making links with children in other schools, especially in other countries will enable children to have authentic learning experiences and to hear about issues children in other countries are facing, and that these children’s lives may be very different from their own. This will help them become Ethically Informed citizens and realise that decisions that are made here in Wales can impact children in other countries. If you are interested in making links with schools internationally funding opportunities can be found here Funding Opportunities – Taith
Here is a list of useful resources available on the Children’s Commissioner for Wales’ website:
Rights Song: which is at the bottom of this page