Symposium on
“Human rights in Education: Freedom of Expression in the Classroom”
European Court of Human RightsStrasbourg, France, 24-25 November 2011
United Nations – Convention on the Rights of the Child
article 12, a bridge to democratic participation at school
dr. Massimo Di Rienzo
Save the Children Italy – Education Unit
“States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child”
Symposium on
“Human rights in Education: Freedom of Expression in the Classroom”
European Court of Human RightsStrasbourg, France, 24-25 November 2011
RIGHTS PEDAGOGY
“States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child…
…the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child”
• Must be informed• Should be able to express
• Should be listening• Should be able to give due weight
Symposium on
“Human rights in Education: Freedom of Expression in the Classroom”
European Court of Human RightsStrasbourg, France, 24-25 November 2011
What experiences…
FORUM of the students on the
implementation of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child1
PREPARATION MEETINGS MOTION WRITING MEETINGS FORUM
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
FORUM is a final event of a training process aimed at
helping secondary school kids in:
• Focussing on a specific topic which is strongly
related to their lives…
• …reading up on it…
• …discussing in the classroom…
• …writing up common positions under the form of a
“motion”…
• …reading up the motion in front of institutional
“duty bearers”
Organization of FORUM
Symposium on
“Human rights in Education: Freedom of Expression in the Classroom”
European Court of Human RightsStrasbourg, France, 24-25 November 2011
What experiences…
FORUM of the students on the
implementation of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child1
MOTION
A formal motion is a statement made by a
whole classroom during the FORUM final
meeting describing what is to be done and
how it is to be accomplished.
…for instance…
The classroom asks the following:
• The Municipality of Rome should create
more appropriate spaces for kids close
to town centres. They should be held in
check and open to everyone.
• The school principal should foster
“ability to listen” in the classrooms
Symposium on
“Human rights in Education: Freedom of Expression in the Classroom”
European Court of Human RightsStrasbourg, France, 24-25 November 2011
What experiences…
l’AquilAltrA2
…is an initiative addressed to both teachers and children which
experienced a recent strong earthquake in the city of l’Aquila.
NEEDS ANALYSIS
Children had to move to different schools… relations were cut
and threat for the future was the main feeling
• 2009 April 6th… earthquake
• 2009 April 9th… emergency action
• 2009 October to 2010 May...Training for children
• 2010 November to 2011 April… Training for teachers
Symposium on
“Human rights in Education: Freedom of Expression in the Classroom”
European Court of Human RightsStrasbourg, France, 24-25 November 2011
What experiences…
l’AquilAltrA2
In late 2010 teachers asked us to continue the project. They
wanted to develop new approaches for improving participation of
children in their classrooms.
Focus on… BREAKING ALL THE ROLES
Teachers were invited to plan their lessons with creative non-
formal approaches, aimed at breaking all the roles in teaching…
OUTCOME
…how does it feel to come out of the role of “teacher”
“Sometimes we think we give enough space and time to kids in our classrooms, but it is more in purpose than in practice”“This training helped me better organize the work in the classroom, as I intended when I started working and nevermanaged to do”“Exploring different ways of managing the lesson in the classroom made it easier for kids to be more involved”
Symposium on
“Human rights in Education: Freedom of Expression in the Classroom”
European Court of Human RightsStrasbourg, France, 24-25 November 2011
What experiences…
l’AquilAltrA2
Project sample
• Teachers decide to let the children
choose a topic, prepare and manage the
lesson.
• During the lesson teachers try to
boicot, talking over and asking stupid
questions.
• Children could not complete the lesson.
• Children argue with teachers about
responsability of preparing and
managing the lesson
Children were very upset about teachers
behavement, they really made a big effort
to prepare the lesson…
Symposium on
“Human rights in Education: Freedom of Expression in the Classroom”
European Court of Human RightsStrasbourg, France, 24-25 November 2011
Lessons learnt…
ALWAYS CHECK OUT WHAT IS THE
STARTING POINT BOTH FOR RIGHT
HOLDERS AND FOR DUTY BEARERS
DEFINE SPACE FOR PARTICIPATION
WITH RIGHT HOLDERS AND DUTY
BEARERS IN THE FIRST TIME
EXPLORE THE POWER OF NON-FORMAL
EDUCATION
Symposium on
“Human rights in Education: Freedom of Expression in the Classroom”
European Court of Human RightsStrasbourg, France, 24-25 November 2011
Lessons learnt…
EMPOWERMENT
CHILDREN (RH):
Building up capacities for
free expression
ADULTS (DB):
Improving skills for better
listening and understanding
CONSULTATIVE
PROCESSES
CHILDREN (RH):
Building up capacities for
organizing opinions into
communication schemes
ADULTS (DB): Learning
how to give due weight
to opinions and how to
manage decisions
DECISION-MAKING
PROCESSES
CHILDREN (RH):
Building up decision-
making capacities
ADULTS (DB):
Learning how to
manage inclusive
decision-making
processes
SELF-INITIATED and
SELF-MANAGED
PROCESSES
CHILDREN (RH): they
have no need to be
trained
ADULTS (DB): Learning
how to make a step
beyond
ALWAYS CHECK OUT WHAT IS THE STARTING POINT BOTH FOR
RIGHT HOLDERS AND FOR DUTY BEARERS
Symposium on
“Human rights in Education: Freedom of Expression in the Classroom”
European Court of Human RightsStrasbourg, France, 24-25 November 2011
Lessons learnt… DEFINE SPACE FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE FIRST TIME
For example, planning
contents of lessons during
the school year
For example, negotiating
rules for peacefully living in
common spaces
For example, new ideas for
re-qualifying a dismissed
area
…democratic participation has its rules
teacher
students
school principle
teachers
local government
school principle
teachers
Symposium on
“Human rights in Education: Freedom of Expression in the Classroom”
European Court of Human RightsStrasbourg, France, 24-25 November 2011
Lessons learnt… EXPLORE THE POWER OF NON-FORMAL EDUCATION
KNOWLEDGE
IS A SOCIAL
CONSTRUCTION.
IT CANNOT BE
TRANSFERRED FROM
ONE PERSON TO
ANOTHER
KNOWLEDGE
COMES OUT OF INTERPERSONAL
AND COOPERATIVE NEGOTIATIONS
OF MEANINGS
Symposium on
“Human rights in Education: Freedom of Expression in the Classroom”
European Court of Human RightsStrasbourg, France, 24-25 November 2011
HOW TO:
Shift from experimental to ordinary
democratic participation
“Participation should be an institutional, professional
and personal attitude more than an occasional practice,
as it raises expectations and may cause huge
frustrations if it is not properly designed”
…the challange
Symposium on
“Human rights in Education: Freedom of Expression in the Classroom”
European Court of Human RightsStrasbourg, France, 24-25 November 2011
• undertake an assessment of the extent to which
children and young people’s opinions are heard
and taken seriously in existing legislation,
policies and practices
• assign, if not in existence responsibility to a
government department or agency to drive,
oversee and monitor implementation of this
strategy and to ensure that child and youth
participation is mainstreamed through decision
and policy making structures
Consultation on the draft Council of Europe
Recommendation on child and youth participation1
HOW TO:
Shift from experimental to ordinary democratic participation
Symposium on
“Human rights in Education: Freedom of Expression in the Classroom”
European Court of Human RightsStrasbourg, France, 24-25 November 2011
HOW TO:
Shift from experimental to ordinary democratic participation
• promote training on child and youth
participation for teachers
• provide children and young people with
information on their right to participate
• make children and young people’s
rights, including the right to be heard, a
mandatory component of school curricula
Consultation on the draft Council of Europe
Recommendation on child and youth participation2
Symposium on
“Human rights in Education: Freedom of Expression in the Classroom”
European Court of Human RightsStrasbourg, France, 24-25 November 2011
HOW TO:
Shift from experimental to ordinary democratic participation
• promote all forms of active participation by children
and young people in educational establishments,
notably through pupils’ councils having the possibility
to express views on all aspects of school life
• provide education in a way that respects the inherent
dignity of the child and young person and enables
free expression of her/his views and participation in
school life, for example through using interactive
teaching methods and the recognition of non-formal
education and informal learning
Consultation on the draft Council of Europe
Recommendation on child and youth participation3
Symposium on
“Human rights in Education: Freedom of Expression in the Classroom”
European Court of Human RightsStrasbourg, France, 24-25 November 2011
HOW TO:
Shift from experimental to ordinary democratic participation
…is about …finding indicators
…is about …understanding the
added value of free expression
…is about …teaching in a different way
Symposium on
“Human rights in Education: Freedom of Expression in the Classroom”
European Court of Human RightsStrasbourg, France, 24-25 November 2011
Ideas…
SCHOOLS OF PARTICIPATION
• Schools self-assessing the level of participation
• Depending on the level accomplished, the CERTIFICATORY
AGENCY provides a different training format both for teachers
and for children
• Schools are granted with a certificate “School of participation”
UNDERADIO.IT
• Webradio broadcasting the free voice of 24 classrooms
coming from Rome outskirts
• Starting from November 28th
• Tune in at www.underadio.savethechildren.it
Symposium on
“Human rights in Education: Freedom of Expression in the Classroom”
European Court of Human RightsStrasbourg, France, 24-25 November 2011
Ideas…SCHOOLS OF PARTICIPATION… assessing the SPAN of participation
QUALITY OF FREE
EXPRESSION,
QUALITY OF
LISTENING
QUALITY OF
CONSULTATIVE
PROCESSES
QUALITY OF
DECISION-MAKING
PROCESSES
QUALITY OF SELF-
INITIATED and SELF-
MANAGED
PROCESSES
Symposium on
“Human rights in Education: Freedom of Expression in the Classroom”
European Court of Human RightsStrasbourg, France, 24-25 November 2011
My little child came back from
school very upset. I asked him
why. He said to me:
“...my teacher gave me all the
answers... but I didn't ask any
question”
THE MEANING OF PARTICIPATION