Teaching Human Rights at the Tertiary Level: Addressing the 'Knowing-Doing Gap' through a Role-Based Simulation Approach

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This article describes a five-pointed approach to teaching human rights at the tertiary level. This approach points to the need for human rights education that: 1) offers abilities and capacities that complement legal approaches; 2) provides students with the tools to grasp the root causes of violations; 3) incorporates learning on local, national, regional, and international levels; 4) includes significant collaborative opportunities; and 5) offers students the chance to put into practice the skills they have learned. The article critically examines and problematizes this approach through a case-study examination of a ‘role-based simulation’ module trialled in a postgraduate human rights course at the University of Sydney, the Human Rights Simulation. The substantive and pedagogical challenges that have emerged are discussed, drawing on the insights from teaching the Simulation and the substance of student feedback.