Child Rights Schools
Key Resources
Improving the world for children is inextricably linked with improving schools. The Child Rights Schools programme is a ‘whole school approach’ to Child Rights Education, which embeds respect for rights throughout the school on an everyday basis.
Children are supported to become active participants in learning and in school decision-making. Schools and teachers are supported to recognise children as rights holders and to further realise child rights in the whole school environment.
The journey involves children, teachers, non-teaching staff, parents/carers, and volunteers who work together to analyse how rights-respecting their schools currently are, and then collectively take action to improve the situation.
Research has shown substantial impact in a variety of school contexts: higher rates of student achievement, lower absenteeism, higher levels of wellbeing and engagement, and improved relationships between children and adults.
The EU-funded project, Children as Champions of Change: Ensuring Children’s Rights and Meaningful Participation, aims to improve and expand existing Child Rights Schools models, build capacity of key stakeholders, and document good practice, in order to reach more schools and children.
This project is funded by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020)
