Children's human rights education as a counter to social disadvantage: a case study from England

Abstract

Background: Children's rights education in schools has many social and educational benefits. Among them are a deeper understanding of rights and social responsibility, an improved school climate, and greater school engagement and achievement. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess whether children's rights education has the power to improve educational outcomes for socially disadvantaged children in particular. Sample: A sample of three primary schools was included in the study. These were drawn from a wider sample of English schools participating in the Hampshire Education Local Authority's Rights, Respect and Responsibility initiative (RRR). Design and methods: Building on a longitudinal study, we compared Year 6 children in three schools that varied in the degree to which they had implemented RRR: one in a disadvantaged area that has fully implemented RRR (School 1); one in a disadvantaged area that is now beginning to implement RRR (School 2); and another in a relatively advantaged area that has partially implemented RRR (School 3). We assessed levels of school engagement, optimism, self-concept, parental involvement, school problems, education and career aspirations, and participation in school and community. Results: Compared with their peers in the other two schools, students attending School 1 reported significantly higher levels of school engagement, fewer social problems, greater optimism and higher self-concepts. Conclusions: The findings reported here, together with previous data, suggest that fully implemented children's human rights education, among its other benefits, may be one means of narrowing the gap between socially disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers.