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Principles and practices of peace education
Principles and practices of peace education

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3 Acting for change – Rights Respecting Schools

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Figure 4 UNICEF’s Rights Respecting Schools poster

The final part of this session offers a very brief introduction to the UNICEF initiative Rights Respecting Schools (UK). Like peer mediation, this is another strongly supported national initiative that can support the development of peace among us in school communities.

UNICEF’s work is underpinned by The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989 (UNCRC). Every human child has these rights. Rights Respecting Schools seek to ensure that children are aware of their rights, and empower children to claim their rights and uphold the rights of others. A summary of the convention can be found on the UNICEF website [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .

Becoming a Rights Respecting School depends on the everyday practices of both children and adults in the school community (UNICEF, 2024). In such schools learning about rights is part of the curriculum and those rights are practised in every aspect of school life.

Activity 6 Building peace in a Rights Respecting School

Timing: Allow approximately 10 minutes for this activity

Watch this short video made by Crystal Class in UNICEF Rights Respecting School Mount Stewart Infants, via the link below.

As you watch, think about:

  • What peace competencies might the children be developing?
  • What might the children be learning about their role in building peace in the world?

Mount Stewart Infants School video

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Discussion

You will have spotted the reference to Article 39 of the UNCRC in the video. The full article states that:

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Figure 5 Article 39

Whilst you can’t be sure what kinds of activities led to the making of this video, you might have considered that the children were developing their knowledge about human rights and the effects of violent conflict. You might have also considered that they were developing attitudes of social responsibility, social connectedness and solidarity as they thought about how they might welcome refugees into their school. Here they are beginning to encounter aspects of peace in the wider world, which you will read more about in Session 5.

A project to make a video such as this allows the children to explore what such rights mean for different people in different contexts. In Rights Respecting Schools the curriculum explicitly covers teaching about each article of the UNCRC. Embedding teaching about rights in the school curriculum and wider school life can help children and young people build an in-depth understanding of both their own rights and what they can do to uphold the rights of others.