Pledge to join RCE Quality Assurance System

About

This is the proposed Pledge for educational environments pledging to overhaul their educational practice as called for in the Declaration of Rights-Centric Education

Draft Pledge for Rights-Centric Education

Affirming My/Our commitment to the Declaration of Rights-Centric Education, on behalf of the Children whose Rights I/We have a Voluntary/Mandatory obligation to Respect, I/We pledge My/Our commitment to overhaul Practices relating to Education of the Child applicable in My/Our environment in order to support the fullest possible realisation of the Rights of Child.

Furthermore, with reference to the "Revised draft plan of action for the first phase (2005-2007) of the World Programme for Human Rights Education" approved by the United Nations General Assembly in 2005, expanding the articles to be applicable to all educational environments (not only schools), I/we Pledge to

1. Publish a code of conduct for an environment free of violence, sexual abuse, harassment and corporal punishments, including procedures for resolving conflicts and dealing with violence and bullying;
2. Provide opportunities for Children for self-expression, responsibilities and participation in decision-making, in accordance with their age and evolving capacity;
3. Provide opportunities for Children to organize their own activities, for representing, mediating and advocating their interests;

Further-Furthermore (sorry, I am sleep deprived!), in fulfilment of the proposal for “a rights-based quality assurance system (including school self-evaluation and development planning) for education in general” and "mechanisms for sharing good practices, including networking of human rights educators at local, national and international levels" in the above Programme, I/We Pledge to

1. Be a member of the Alliance for Rights-Centric Education, a voluntary coalition of educational environments supporting each other in the implementation of the Declaration of Rights-Centric Education
2. Periodically Report, preferably annually but no later than 24 months from the date of My/Our last Report,
   1. The extent to which Child Rights are currently Respected and Fulfilled in the Educational environment I/We have responsibility for; and
   2. An evaluation of the steps taken towards Respecting and Fulfilling Rights since the last Report (or, in the case of the first Report, all steps taken in the past); and
   3. A plan outlining the steps to be taken before the next Report.

Signatories

Signatories can be:

1. Parents / Guardians who are fulfilling their responsibility, right and duty to provide appropriate direction and guidance to their Child/ren in the exercise by their Child Rights (Art. 5 of CRC)
2. Independent educational institutions (Established pursuant to Art. 29 2 of CRC), who commit to act in loco parentis vis a vis Art. 5
3. State institutions providing Education (as defined in the Declaration of Rights-Centric Education) to Children, who are obliged under the CRC to respect, protect, and strive to fulfil the Rights of Children

Optional Content in Pledges

Parties to the Pledge may include the following in their plans

• Art 29 1 "The Aims of Education"
• Art 12 "The Right to be Heard"
• Art 8 “The Right to an Identity”
• Art 13 "Freedom of Expression"
• Art 14 “Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion”
• There's work-in-progress content in Unclassified Pledge Content (will not be easy to make sense of)

Clarifying Remarks

Much of the pledge is now adapted from the World Programme for Human Rights Education, so no one can really discredit it...

• 10 (x) Establish a rights-based quality assurance system (including school self-evaluation and development planning, school inspection, etc.) for education in general and create specific quality assurance mechanisms for human rights education; - this is the biggie, this is what we're building
• 15 (b) (iv) Mechanisms for sharing good practices, including networking of human rights educators at local, national and international levels; - joining the alliance is for sharing and networking
• 15 (a) (ii) A code of conduct for a school free of violence, sexual abuse, harassment and corporal punishments, including procedures for resolving conflicts and dealing with violence and bullying; - quoted in pledge, but "school" expanded
• 15 (c) Students in a rights-based school will have:
  1. (i) Opportunities for self-expression, responsibilities and participation in decision-making, in accordance with their age and evolving capacity; - quoted in pledge, but for Children not just Students
  2. (ii) Opportunities for organizing their own activities, for representing, mediating and advocating their interests; - ditto

Additional supporting statements

• 12. To this end, it is essential to ensure that human rights teaching and learning happen in a human rights-based learning environment. It is essential to ensure that educational objectives, practices and the organization of the schools are consistent with human rights values and principles. Likewise, it is important that the culture and the community within and beyond the school are also embedding those principles. - we've quoted the middle part in the Declaration
• 10 (vi) Identify and support a resource centre for collecting and disseminating initiatives and information (good practices from diverse contexts and countries, educational materials, events) on human rights education at the national level; - yup, that's what we are
• 10 (vii) Support and promote research, for example, on the knowledge of human rights, practices of human rights education in schools, students’ learning outcomes and the impact of human rights education; - we can contribute to this
• 10 (viii) Encourage research in human rights education by academic centres specifically devoted to human rights education, as well as through cooperation between schools, research institutes and university faculties; - I'm not sure if we are specifically devoted to HRE, more like HR in E, but we can support research from all the data we will be collecting
• 10 (ix) Participate in international surveys and comparative studies; - we're doing this
• 10 (xi) Involve learners and educators directly in carrying out monitoring and evaluation processes so as to promote empowerment and self-reflection. learner-educator is a manifestation of schoolishness, we rather involve all participants
• 11. Human rights education goes beyond cognitive learning and includes the social and emotional development of all those involved in the learning and teaching process. It aims at developing a culture of human rights, where human rights are practised and lived within the school community and through interaction with the wider surrounding community. - we want this too
• 13. A rights-based school is characterized by mutual understanding, respect and responsibility. It fosters equal opportunities, a sense of belonging, autonomy, dignity and self-esteem for all members of the school community. It is a school that is childcentred, relevant and meaningful, where human rights are identified, explicitly and distinctively, for everybody as learning objectives and as the school philosophy/ethos Good, but not just "schools", all environments
• 14. A rights-based school is the responsibility of all members of the school community, with the school leadership having the primary responsibility to create favourable and enabling conditions to reach these aims. - OK