Early programs to teach children about their rights, in Belgium, Canada, England and New Zealand have provided evidence of this.
This includes the right to non-discrimination, participation, protection from abuse and violence, and freedom of thought, expression, and religion.
Article 29 of the Convention requires that 'the education of the child shall be directed to the development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.'
Article 42 requires that countries 'undertake to make the principles of the Convention widely known, by appropriate and active means, to adults and children alike.'
Research by Katherine Covell and R. Brian Howe[24] (see the section on evaluations of children’s human rights education) shows evidence of the above effects.
[26] This has been an overlooked history of the culture of the rights of the child, one that needs to be shared and celebrated to help empower children and those adults who work with them.
[5] This was a comprehensive child rights education project that was introduced in the early 1990s at De Vrijdagmarkt Primary School.
It involved children ages 3 to 12 with the objective of educating them about the contents of the Convention, using democratic pedagogy and ensuring child participation in the learning process.
The grade 12 curriculum (for ages 17 to 19) expanded the sphere of children’s rights knowledge with application to global issues.
At this level, activities included holding a mock UN Conference on war-affected children where small groups had responsibility for representing the players at the conference, and a sweatshop talk show in which groups researched child labor and then held a talk show to discuss their findings.
Among the more ambitious developments have been seen in New Zealand where efforts are underway to make children’s human rights education a nationwide initiative.
[30] Like elsewhere, educators and human rights advocates in New Zealand had been concerned with poor achievement levels, bullying, and violent behaviors that are observed among a significant minority of children in schools.
To achieve this goal, HRiE has been following the Hampshire model in using children’s rights as an overarching and integrating values framework for teaching, learning, and school management and organization.
[6] The introduction of "The Rights Project" was motivated in large part by observations of the children’s self-focus and disregard for the feelings of their peers.
For example, the children became more interested in social justice and rights-related issues such as peace, war, injustice, and hunger.
And they wanted to discuss the rights of marginalized children – those living with disabilities, in institutions, and of ethnic minority status.
Similar outcomes were found in evaluations of the effects of children’s rights education in Cape Breton schools.
Evaluations conducted on students in grades 6 and 8 (ages 12 and 14 years) showed improved classroom climate, engagement, and behavior.
For example, at one school upon realizing that not every child in the area was assured their right to nutritious food, the students initiated a breakfast program by obtaining cooperation and donations from the local community.
The results showed them to be three times more likely than their peers to understand humanitarian assistance for children in difficult circumstances as a fundamental human right.
Across ages, children showed a greater understanding of rights and their relation to responsibilities, increased levels of self-regulation, confidence, effort and motivation, participation and engagement in school, and achievement.
Incidents of bullying were reduced dramatically with disagreements being resolved using the discourse of rights rather than through physical or verbal aggression.
School administrators noted significant changes in teachers use of democratic teaching and positive classroom management, and in less confrontational dealings with their students.
And the greater the level of student engagement and participation, the more teachers showed gains in a sense of personal achievement and significant decreases in emotional exhaustion and depersonalization.
The evidence suggests that schools that are fully consistent with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child can mediate the effects of a challenging environment of rearing and help close the achievement gap between disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers.
[27] Although no formal evaluation has yet been published on the New Zealand initiative, anecdotal evidence suggests the outcomes are comparable to those reported from Hampshire.
Evaluation data from Pamela Wallberg and Maria Kahn show that their preschool rights project was highly successful.
[6] They found that teaching young children about their Convention rights in an age-appropriate way transformed the learning environment.
As classroom rules were replaced with rights, less adult control was needed and group conversations changed from chaotic chatter to the respectful exchange of ideas.