Students Rights in School Test

What is social justice, multicultural education, etc

What is Social Justice?:

• Challenging the status quo, the movement from non-equality to equality, and unity 

• The concept of social justice is to advocate for equal access to wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. 

  • It emphasizes the progress towards a world where the obstacles people face because of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, etc, are eliminated 

What is Social Justice Education?:

• Social justice education supports learning that is grounded in historical awareness, cultural understanding, and liberatory practices. While supporting both present and future possibilities for knowledge. 

• It emphasizes a commitment to fostering children’s well-being and long-term development 

What is Multicultural Education: 

• An approach to teaching that recognizes, respects, and values the cultural diversity of students. 

• Its goal is to ensure that all students, regardless of race, ethnicity, language, religion, or background, have equal opportunities to learn and succeed

  • This is done by including multiple cultural perspectives in the curriculum, challenging bias, stereotypes, and discrimination, promoting equity and fairness in schools, and helping students understand and respect differences while also recognizing shared experierences 

What is Global Citizenship Education?:

• An approach to learning that helps students understand their place in an interconnected world. It encourages people to be aware of global issues and to act responsibly, ethically, and respectfully toward others across cultures and borders

  • Understanding global issues (such as inequality, climate change, human rights, and conflict)

  • Recognizing interdependence between countries, people, and environments 

  • Respecting cultural diversity and different perspectives

  • Developing a sense of shared responsibility for creating a more just and sustainable world. 

What is Cosmopolitanism:

Cosmopolitanism is the belief that moral obligations do not depend on distance or nationality, and that all people are ethically responsible to humanity as a whole

What is Human Rights Education?:

• Human rights education aims to build and promote a universal culture of human rights by developing shared norms, skills, values, and attitudes, not only through the teaching of knowledge but also through the education of practices that support and uphold human rights 

Models of Children’s Human Rights Education:

The Values & Awareness/ Socialization Model:	The Accountability/ Professional Development Model:	The Activism/ Transformational Model:
Focuses on teaching children basic facts and values related to human rights  Relies on teacher-directed methods  Children are viewed primarily as Passive, needs-bearers, rather than active participants	Educators and Professionals learn about children’s rights as part of their occupational responsibilities, to respect and promote children’s rights in their given field Highlights growing attention to authenticity, transparency, and the heart of one's job	Empowers learners with the knowledge, skills, and motivation to actively promote and protect human rights  Emphasizes participation, agency, and social change  The transition of starting to see a child as a rights-bearer

Rights Respecting Schools:

• Rights-respecting schools is a learning environment where children’s rights are understood, practiced, and embedded in everyday school life, not just taught as theory

Awareness:	The School community knows & understands the concepts of children's rights (UNCRC), and how children’s rights relate to school culture and to their own roles
Student Participation:	Students are encouraged to express their views without fear Mechanisms exist for students' input (student councils, class discussions, etc.) Power is shared rather than strictly hierarchical Students are provided with the opportunity to express themselves and are listened to and taken seriously
Teaching & Learning:	Adults model rights-respecting attitudes (i.e., classroom rules) and behaviour, and students are given regular opportunities to learn about and exercise their rights and responsibilities
Leadership:	Children's rights are used as a lens by administrators for policies, program choices, program implementation, and other decision-making

Children’s Rights Approach: The Arch of Human Rights and the Table Leg Test:

• The child's rights approach requires a paradigm shift AWAY from passive approaches in which children are perceived and treated as objects in need of assistance, rather than as rights holders entitled to non-negotiable rights 

The Arch of Human Rights:

• The Arch of Human Rights is a way to understand

how human rights are structured and built. 

The Components of the Arch:

1. Foundational Rights: Basic survival and protection rights (Right to life, freedom from abuse)

2. (Participation) Civil and Political Rights: Rights like freedom of speech, right to vote, and participation, support the structure of a free and fair society 

3. (Opportunity) Economic, Social and Cultural rights: Rights to education, healthcare, work, and cultural participation. These ensure people can actually enjoy their civil and political rights

4. (Society) Collective Rights: rights to a health envionment or peace. These connect society as a whole 

The Table Leg Test:

• Thinking about human rights in terms of the legs of a table

• Each “leg” represents a right (right to education, healthcare, freedom of speech, etc)

• If one leg is missing or weak, the table cannot stand properly

Why this matters:

• No single right is less important than another

• Rights are interdependent, and you need all of them to support a just society 

• Emphasizes interconnectedness

Table = society or rights-respecting community

Legs = different human rights

Missing legs = human rights violations → society is thus unstable 

The Three R’s of Children as Rights Advocates in Schools:

Relationships:	Children learn best about rights when they experience them in daily interactions Experiencing their rights helps children understand both their entitlements and the social responsibilities that come with them  Strong relationships create a culture of respect and mutual understanding in schools
Resources:	Children should be offered meaningful involvement in decision-making Their perspectives can highlight areas where resources and support are needed to improve education and well-being  Access to resources ensures children can actively contribute and influence change
Redress:	Children should be empowered to address and respond to rights violations, whether affecting themselves or their peers Children MUST be heard in relation to punitive measures on student experiences  I.e., isolation or suspension This allows children to actively participate in creating a fair and rights-respecting school environment

Equity Literacy Framework:

Equity literacy is a set of skills, knowledge, and habits needed to identify, respond to, and prevent inequities in schools and communities. Its about going beyond awareness to action and sustained change 

• Step 1: Identify Biases of inequities:

  • Who is being treated unfairly, who benefits, and who is disadvantaged? What assumptions, stereotypes, or systems are at play

  • Biases can be individual (people's attitudes or behaviors) or structural (policies, rules, traditions)

• Step 2: Take Note of Various Perspectives:

  • How do people from marginalized groups experience this? Whose voices are missing? How might power, race, class, gender, ability, or age shape these experiences 

• Step 3: Consider possible challenges and opportunities:

  • What barriers might prevent change? (lack of resources, resistance, policies)

  • What opportunities exist? (supportive leaders, existing programs, community momentum)

• Step 4: Imagine what equity and justice would look like:

  • What would a fair outcome actually look like?

  • What would people need, not just equally, but equitably

  • What would dignity, safety, and access look like in this situation

• Step 5: Brainstorm immediate-term solutions (respond):

  • Reduce harm, support those affected, and address urgent needs.

  • These actions don't fix everything immediately, but they help 

• Step 6: Brainstorm long-term solutions (redress):

  • Changing policies, practices, or structures

  • Preventing the inequity from happening again 

  • Addressing root causes, not just symptoms 

• Step 7: Craft a transformative plan of action:

  • Combines short-term and long-term strategies

  • Assigns responsibility

  • Sets goals and timelines

  • Aims to transform systems, not just tweak them 

See → Act → Fix → Build → Sustain