Katherine Covell

Empowering children : children's rights education as a pathway to citizenship

Approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1989, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child affirms that children in all countries have fundamental rights, including rights to education. To date, 192 states are signatories to or have in some form ratified the accord. Children are still imperilled in many countries, however, and are often not made aware of their guaranteed rights. In Empowering Children, R. Brian Howe and Katherine Covell assert that educating children about their basic rights is a necessary means not only of fulfilling a country?s legal obligations, but also of advancing education about democratic principles and the practice of citizenship. The authors contend that children?s rights education empowers children as persons and as rights-respecting citizens in democratic societies. Such education has a ?contagion effect? that brings about a general social knowledge on human rights and social responsibility. Although there remain obstacles to the implementation of children?s rights in many countries, Howe and Covell argue that reforming schools and enhancing teacher education are absolutely essential to the creation of a new culture of respect toward children as citizens. Their thorough and passionate work marks a significant advance in the field.

Images of women in advertisements: Effects on attitudes related to sexual aggression

While the power of advertisements has long been known, investigations of sociocultural influences on sexual attitudes have been limited primarily to studies of sexually aggressive media. In this study we examined the effects on sexual attitudes of different portrayals of women in advertisements. Male and female white middle-class university students were exposed to one of three groups of advertisements. In one condition women were depicted as sex objects, in another in progressive or role-reversed roles, and a third condition comprised product oriented advertisements containing no human figures. Sexual attitudes were assessed using four subscales of Burts Sexual Attitude Survey of 1980, a measure of attitudes believed to be rape-supportive, and conducive to sexual aggression against women. Before completing the Survey, subjects rated a series of advertisements on appeal and aesthetic dimensions. Whereas the product oriented advertisements were rated as more appealing than those featuring female figures, analyses showed that males exposed to the sex-object advertisements significantly more accepting of rape-supportive attitudes, and females exposed to the progressive female images were less accepting of such attitudes than were controls.

The Impact of Women in Advertisements on Attitudes Toward Women

The present study extends existing research showing a link between images of women in advertisements and sexual attitudes. We examined also the impact of seeing sex image and progressive advertisements on attitudes toward feminism and the womens movement. Ninety-two undergraduate academic and technology white middle-class students were assigned to one of two conditions: rating either sex image or progressive advertisements. All participants then completed four subscales of M. R. Burts [(1980) “Cultural Myths and Supports for Rape,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 38, pp. 217-230] Sexual Attitudes Survey and R. E. Fassingers [(1994) “Development and Testing of the Attitudes Toward Feminism and the Womens Movement (FWM) Scale,” Psychology of Women Quarterly, Vol. 18, pp. 389-402] Feminism and Womens Movement Scale. Major findings include replication of previous data showing a relation between viewing sex image advertisements and reporting attitudes supportive of sexual aggression. Those seeing sex image advertisements also showed lower acceptance of feminism. It is suggested that continuous presentation of such advertisements undermines womens striving for equality.

Moral Education through the 3 Rs: Rights, respect and responsibility

We report an empirical assessment of suggestions that education in the appreciation of rights may be an effective agent of moral education. A childrens rights curriculum was developed that was incorporated into the existing health and social studies curricula in Grade 8 classes (age 13-15) at five different schools over a 6-month period. The curriculum was designed to teach adolescents about their rights and responsibilities under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in an egalitarian and student-centred manner. Assessment of the impact of the rights curriculum showed that, when compared with their peers who did not receive the rights curriculum, the adolescents who did indicated higher levels of self-esteem, perceived peer and teacher support and increased rights-respecting attitudes.

Reducing Teacher Burnout by Increasing Student Engagement A Children's Rights Approach

Teacher burnout has long been understood to have significant negative effects on teaching efficacy. Research has indicated that student misbehaviour, often a result of disengagement, is a major predictor of teacher burnout. In part to address student disengagement, Hampshire County in England has undertaken a whole-school rights-based reform initiative called Rights, Respect and Responsibility (RRR). This study was designed to examine the effects of RRR on student engagement and teacher burnout over a three-year period. The sample initially comprised a total of 15 schools (four infant, five primary and six junior) and 127 teachers. At the second time of measure, one year later, the sample was reduced to 69 teachers from 13 of the schools. At both times teachers completed the following measures: the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the perceived effect of RRR on teaching, and student engagement. In the third year of the study we obtained data on the Maslach Burnout Inventory from 100 teachers at 12 of the schools. Findings suggest that RRR can improve student engagement and reduce teacher burnout. Of particular note was the predictive power of student participation in the classroom and school in reducing teacher burnout.

School engagement and rights‐respecting schools

Disengagement in school is associated with behavioral problems and decreased academic achievement. In contrast, pupils who are engaged in school develop the academic and social efficacies that underlie successful adulthood. Moreover, engagement promotes educational resilience. This study examines pupils’ self‐reported level of engagement in schools that are explicitly respecting of children’s rights compared with pupils in traditional schools. The Young Students’ Engagement in School Scale was developed and used with 1289 9‐ to 11‐year‐olds from 18 schools, six of which had fully implemented the Hampshire Education Authority’s Rights Respect and Responsibility (RRR) Initiative. Factor analysis indicated four dimensions of engagement: rights‐respecting climate; interpersonal harmony; academic orientation; and participation. Pupils in RRR schools had higher scores on all but the academic dimension. The findings suggest the potential of rights‐respecting schools in promoting engagement and the potential utility of the measure in identifying areas in which pupils’ engagement may need intervention.

Implementing children’s human rights education in schools

Evaluations of a children’s rights education initiative in schools in Hampshire, England — consistent with previous research findings — demonstrate the effectiveness of a framework of rights for school policy, practice, and teaching, for promoting rights-respecting attitudes and behaviors among children, and for improving the school ethos. The value of rights-consistent schooling is seen not only in its contemporaneous benefits on children, but also in its capacity to have a long-term effect on the promotion and maintenance of a rights-supporting culture. To this end, we provide data on how Hampshire educators were able to successfully implement their program. We examine schools that were very successful in incorporating children’s rights across the curriculum and throughout all school policies and practices, and compare their implementation efforts and experiences with schools that were less successful. By identifying the key variables that differentiate success, we aim to facilitate the implementation of rights-consistent schooling.

Miseducating children about their rights

This article concerns educating children in schools about their basic rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.The question we address is the teaching of responsibilities.We point out that although there is no mention of children’s responsibilities in the Convention, responsibilities are inherent in the concept of rights. Therefore, children’s rights education requires that children learn responsibilities that go together with rights. But we also point out that although there is a conceptual linkage between rights and responsibilities, effective education requires that the central focus is on rights and that children are given the opportunity to discover for themselves the connection between rights and responsibilities. That teachers unduly focus on responsibilities is miseducation about children’s rights. Our latter discussion is based on our observations of a children’s rights education program in Hampshire, England.

‘If there's a dead rat, don't leave it’. Young children's understanding of their citizenship rights and responsibilities

Concerns about pupil disengagement from school and society have led to compulsory citizenship education in state schools in England. However, there is little evidence that the new citizenship education is meeting its goals. The research described here assesses a new approach to citizenship education that appears to overcome some of the identified obstacles in current practices. Hampshires ‘Rights, respect and responsibility’ initiative is a rights‐based whole school reform of school policies and practices. Under this initiative the contemporaneous citizenship status of pupils is respected, pupils are taught about their rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and democratic participation is made meaningful in classroom and school functioning. Of particular interest is that the initiative starts in infant schools. This research indicates that young children can understand their rights and responsibilities in ways that are meaningful to their everyday behaviour and that rights‐based whole school reform has the capacity to improve pupil learning and citizenship behaviours.

Children's human rights education as a counter to social disadvantage: a case study from England

Background: Childrens rights education in schools has many social and educational benefits. Among them are a deeper understanding of rights and social responsibility, an improved school climate, and greater school engagement and achievement. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess whether childrens rights education has the power to improve educational outcomes for socially disadvantaged children in particular. Sample: A sample of three primary schools was included in the study. These were drawn from a wider sample of English schools participating in the Hampshire Education Local Authoritys Rights, Respect and Responsibility initiative (RRR). Design and methods: Building on a longitudinal study, we compared Year 6 children in three schools that varied in the degree to which they had implemented RRR: one in a disadvantaged area that has fully implemented RRR (School 1); one in a disadvantaged area that is now beginning to implement RRR (School 2); and another in a relatively advantaged area that has partially implemented RRR (School 3). We assessed levels of school engagement, optimism, self-concept, parental involvement, school problems, education and career aspirations, and participation in school and community. Results: Compared with their peers in the other two schools, students attending School 1 reported significantly higher levels of school engagement, fewer social problems, greater optimism and higher self-concepts. Conclusions: The findings reported here, together with previous data, suggest that fully implemented childrens human rights education, among its other benefits, may be one means of narrowing the gap between socially disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers.