Incorporating the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Scottish education

Abstract

The incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into Scots law offers an unprecedented opportunity to improve the realisation of the right to education for all children and young people living in Scotland. One feature of such a commitment ought to be clear and comprehensive policies on Human Rights Education (HRE) within Scottish educational policy. This article explores what incorporation of the UNCRC means in the Scottish context and reflects on the current status of HRE in Scottish education. It also asks what role HRE might play alongside incorporation and as part of wider proposed reforms in Scottish education following the Muir Report. I argue that such an examination provides significant opportunities to ask and seek to answer key questions about how HRE may be developed in Scottish education, both conceptually and in classroom practice.