Teachers have to know a lot of things to give one single class, from the content they are teaching to pedagogical strategies and classroom management techniques. Teachers need to master the content they teach, theories and facts. They also have to have a specialised pedagogical knowledge to know when to move to a different subject or when to reinforce a particular topic and recognise if one of their students is struggling with the content.
If this was not enough, teachers also require a good understanding of children’s development in order to identify important stages in their students’ own development and recognise learning opportunities in them.
The knowledge teachers require to teach every day is already demanding, thus, why I argue they also need to know about children’s rights?
Because teachers care about their students. Teachers care about their education, about their well-being, about their safety, about their performance, about their achievements. Teachers care. And all these issues that teachers care about are not only related to children’s rights but can be better understood and act on through a rights-perspective.
Take as an example the right of every child to an education. This right encompasses not only access to education but also quality in education as explained in the Article 28 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child. But what does that mean? What does it imply? Well, it will definitely mean and imply different things for different children. Access for children with disabilities, access might include eliminating physical barriers whereas for children with mental health access might translate into special accommodations within the classroom. Access for migrant and refugee children will mean something different than for LGBT+ children and youth. Yet, every single one of these children, despite their conditions, circumstances, struggles or needs have the right to access education.
What can teachers do to make sure their students can enjoy this right? What can they do if they realise such right is not protected in their schools or in their communities? This is just an example of how such knowledge could equip teachers to make decisions and implement practices that consider the ‘best interest’ of their students.
- Knowing about children’s rights gives teachers the tools to assess whether the rights of every child are being respected not only in their classrooms and schools but also in the larger community.
- Knowing about children’s rights allows teachers to challenge attitudes and behaviours within the classroom that jeopardises rights such as the right to safety, the right to not be discriminated, or the right children have to participate and have their voices heard.
- Knowing about children’s rights helps teachers to teach about rights, not only as a history or civics lesson but as an integral part of children’s daily lives, of their everyday experiences so they can recognise their own rights, exercise them, claim them when they are breached and advocate when the rights of others are not respected.
- Knowing about children’s rights empowers teachers to create safe spaces in their classrooms -something that studies show, improves overall performance- but also become advocates and defend their students’ rights.