Human Rights Education

Effectively addressing violations of human rights requires dealing with complex, multi-spatial problems involving actors at local, national and international levels. It also calls for a diverse range of inter-disciplinary skills. How can tertiary educators prepare students for such work? This study evaluates the coordinated implementation of human rights simulations at seven Australian universities. Based on quantitative and qualitative survey data from 252 students, we find they report that human rights simulation exercises develop their skills. In particular, students report that they feel better able to analyse and productively respond to human rights violations, and that they have a greater awareness of the inter-disciplinary skills required to do so. Overall, this study finds that simulations are a valid, scalable, classroom-based work integrated learning experience that can be adapted for students at undergraduate and postgraduate level, across a range of disciplines and in both face-to-face and online classes. Abstract: Effectively addressing violations of human rights requires dealing with complex, multi-spatial problems involving actors at local, national and international levels. It also calls for a diverse range of inter-disciplinary skills. How can tertiary educators prepare students for such work? This study evaluates the coordinated implementation of human rights simulations at seven Australian universities. Based on quantitative and qualitative survey data from 252 students, we find they report that human rights simulation exercises develop their skills. In particular, students report that they feel better able to analyse and productively respond to human rights violations, and that they have a greater awareness of the inter-disciplinary skills required to do so. Overall, this study finds that simulations are a valid, scalable, classroom-based work integrated learning experience that can be adapted for students at undergraduate and postgraduate level, across a range of disciplines and in both face-to-face and online classes.

The Department of Education (DepEd) ensures that learners in the learning communities are exposed to a child-friendly, gendersensitive, safe, and motivating environment; however, there are still prevailing issues on child abuse, discrimination against children, exploitation, corporal punishment and bullying in schools. Recognizing these concerns, the Geneva Office – Human Rights Education (GO-HRE) in collaboration with the Latter-day Saint Charities partnered with DepEd in Teaching Children’s Rights through Colega teaching manual which consists of entertaining and thought-provoking classroom activities (i.e. songs, games, stories) with special focus in enhancing the cognitive, affective and psychomotor abilities of the learners. Specifically, the project aimed to: (1) identify the lessons learned, strengths, challenges, interventions and initiatives in the Colega implementation; (2) describe the behavior of the learners during the implementation; and (3) determine the comments and suggestions from the school heads and teacher- implementers for the further refinement of the manual. The project was pilot tested in the three (3) divisions that included Quezon City in Luzon, Escalante City in Visayas, and Cagayan de Oro City in Mindanao. The forging of Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with schools division superintendents, training of trainers for teachers and student-facilitators, orienting supervisors, specialists, and school heads, creating of Facebook closed group, making of teaching guides, mapping the curriculum, developing and validating learning assessment tools were some activities initiated in each division. Observations, In-Depth Interviews (IDI) and Focus Groups (FGs) were employed in the data collection. Findings revealed that learners knew about their rights through Colega lessons. Learners agreed that knowing their rights makes them more aware of what to do, able to defend themselves from discrimination and danger of being abused. Learners became respectful, participative, appreciative, open-minded, and wellmannered after the series of Colega lessons. The school heads and teachers affirmed the need to include the Colega teaching in various subject areas through a well-defined implementation plan which may include curriculum mapping, capability-building, and awareness-raising campaigns and activities. The teachers expressed huge support for this project implementation in cooperation with the parents and other stakeholders. Moreover, school heads conducted regular monitoring of teachers, provided the needed materials and instructional supervision in the implementation of the Colega teaching manual as a precursor of strengths in this project. It is recommended to include Colega in the school Learning Action Cell (LAC) plan, conduct more capability building for the implementers, provide additional hard copies of the manual and instructional materials which shall be charged to local funds and implement Colega lessons in the Revitalized Homeroom Guidance Program (Elementary) and Independent Cooperative Learning (Secondary). Furthermore, technical assistance could be provided by the concerned supervisors to the school heads. Colega Lessons could be utilized in other existing programs of the department.

Issues of transitional justice are central to countries moving away
from identity-based conflict. Research tends to focus on the most
well-known forms of transitional justice, like truth commissions.
Far less attention has been given to education as a form of
transitional justice, and even less to teacher professional
development, even though education is central to signalling the
new society and teachers are expected to become agents of
change in their classrooms. This article focusses on history
curriculum change in post-apartheid South Africa. We show how
the post-apartheid South African government developed a human
rights-based history curriculum but failed to support teachers to
implement it. Aspects of these inadequacies included a failure to
take into account the de-skilling of a large segment of the
teaching population under apartheid and teachers’ personal
legacies of that era. Through a review of the teacher professional
development programme, Facing the Past, this article
demonstrates the possibility to implement teacher training
programmes attuned to the particular needs of a transitional
justice environment.