Many people around the world are passionate about changing education and there is much good work being done. There is a lot of untapped potential for collaboration, but also a lot of conflict. Is there a way for these change agents to work together? That also includes a way to identify the good in the work (because not everything in education reform is automatically good)?
We propose that we use international Human Rights law as the compass - because it has legislative protection, has widespread acceptance, and is articulated in detail. We are extending an open invitation for anyone who wants to contribute towards pulling education into alignment with the evolution of human rights to join us:
Compulsory (i.e. Imposed) Education emerged in the 1700's in an era where Children were seen as chattel, and it had to be publicly funded because it was targeting people who weren't going to pay for an education they did not choose. Nothing much has changed in education in spite of social perceptions having evolved from seeing children as chattel, to objects of charity, to objects of rights, and finally the recognition (at least on paper, in 1989, with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) that children are the subjects of their own rights.
While there has been much work done on the Right TO Education - and there is indeed a problem with many children still denied access to education - hardly any attention has been paid to Rights IN Education. Consequently many violations are routinely perpetuated on children in the name of education. These violations are commonplace in state schools, private schools, and homeschooling - and because they are mainstreamed, most people don't even realize that they constitute violations. Even beyond the more obvious violations such as corporal punishment:
- Separating children by age into grades violates a child's freedom of association;
- Censorship and curricular pressure in the form of imposed assessments violates a child's right to freedom of expression (which includes the right to seek and receive information without frontiers);
- Excluding children when formulating educational policy violates a child's right to be heard;
- and more.
We, civil society activists and child rights' defenders from around the world, who have been engaged in educational practice that prioritizes the rights of young people, are now joining together to create the Rights-Centric Education network (some have already signed up as Founding Members) to implement a so-far-not-implemented UN Proposal to establish a Rights Based Quality Assurance System for Schools (which we call the RCE Framework and we extend it to all educational contexts, not limited to schools) beginning with a Declaration calling for practices of education be overhauled to ensure Child Rights in Education are respected, protected, and fulfilled.
Will you support us?