Session Information
25 SES 07, Children’s Rights in the Classroom
Paper Session
Contribution
This paper draws on evidence from a three year evaluation of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) UK's Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA). The aim of the evaluation was to assess the impact of the RRSA on the well-being and achievement of children and young people in the 31 participating schools. Key criteria for the evaluation were the indicators of success provided by UNICEF UK, and considerable emphasis was placed on pupils’ understanding of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). This paper focuses on empirical data from the participating schools and explores ways in which pupils’ increased knowledge of the CRC contributed towards empowering them have a ‘voice’ and to transform aspects of their lives, both in and out of school. The discussion draws on and develops notions presented in previous papers by the author (Robinson & Taylor, 2007; Taylor & Robinson, 2009). Within these papers the values underpinning Student Voice work were explored and, to some extent, theorised. The papers argued that four core values lie at the heart of student voice practice: communication as dialogue; the requirements for democratic, inclusive participation; a recognition of the unequal and problematic nature of power relations; and the possibility of change and transformation. This paper further develops thinking around theorising these values, particularly those values relating to issues of power within school and the transformative nature of pupil voice work.
The paper address the following research questions:
· Through increasing pupils knowledge of the CRC, in what ways are pupils empowered to transform aspects of their life in and out of school? What factors lead to the disempowerment of pupils?
· How do pupils’ and teachers’ increased knowledge of the CRC impact on power relations within school?
There is an increased recognition that power dimensions exist in schools and that these can restrict the extent to which pupils’ voices are heard and acted upon, however, there is also an increased recognition, internationally, including in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and USA, of the advantages that can be gained by listening to the voices of pupils (Fielding 2008). In addition to this increased interest in pupil voice work, findings from this paper will be relevant to a wide international audience as they relate to the UNCRC, to which all countries, with the exception of America and Somalia, have signed up.
The paper begins with an overview of the evaluation of the RRSA, and goes on to consider pupils’ perspectives on how increasing their knowledge of the CRC has contributed towards pupils voicing their opinions and working to transform aspects of their lives in and out of school, and the barriers and tensions that emerge during this process (Lundy, 2007). Consideration will also be given to the perspectives of adults in the evaluation, in terms of how increasing pupils’ knowledge of the CRC has impacted on the attitudes of pupils and the relationships between pupils and adults within the schools.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Fielding, M. (2008) Interrogating Student Voice: Pre-occupations, Purposes and Possibilities, in Daniels, H., Lauder, H. & Porter, J. (Eds), The Routledge Companion to Education, London: Routledge. Lundy, L. (2007) ‘‘Voice’ is not enough: conceptualising Article 12 of the Unite Nations convention on the Rights of the Child’, British Educational Research Journal, Vol 33, No6. Dec 208, pp927-942. Robinson, C. & Taylor, C. (2007) ‘Theorising student voice: values and perspectives,,, Improving Schools, 10,(1) 5-pp17. Taylor, C. & Robinson, C. (2009) ‘‘Student voice’: Theorising power and participation’, Culture, Pedagogy and Society, 17, (2) pp161-175.
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