Recommendations For Primary And Secondary School Teacher Training For Human Rights Education

A Global Strategic Planning Meeting of Teacher Training for Human Rights Education (HRE) was convened from June 1-3, 2005, in Brooklyn, New York, as a launching of the new World Programme for Human Rights Education, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly to start on 1 January 2005.  Twenty-six human rights education practitioners and researchers from all regions of the world discussed research, networking, and information-sharing in the area of teacher training with the goal to develop strategic recommendations and future activities at the international, regional, and national levels.[1]

Whereas, in order to build a community of nations and people where the dignity of every woman, man, and child is valued and realized, the World Programme for Human Rights Education seeks to mobilize the world community to fulfill the promise of human rights through HRE.

Whereas, the first phase of the World Programme for Human Rights Education (2005-2007) will focus on the primary and secondary school systems.

Whereas, “introducing human rights education in primary and secondary education implies that the school becomes a model of human rights learning and practice. Within the school community, teachers, as the main depositories of the curriculum, play a key role in reaching this aim.”[2]

It is affirmed that the success of HRE in formal education rests largely on how well teachers will carry out the responsibility of educating primary and secondary students about, in, and through human rights.

It is hereby affirmed that teacher training on HRE is an indispensable strategy in bringing the World Programme for Human Rights Education from the boardroom of world’s policy makers to the classroom of world’s successor generation.

The following recommendations for teacher training on HRE are hereby proposed to actors and stakeholders identified in the World Programme[3] who bear the responsibility of implementing the Programme, including the underlying principle of meaningful implementation and participation of teachers, parents, and students at the local, national, regional, and global levels.

I. RECOMMENDATIONS TO UNITED NATIONS AGENCIES

1. Develop a research project in each of the regions to establish the degree to which each nation-state is making progress in meeting its international obligations in relation to Human Rights Education (HRE), using the model of the Inter-American Institute for Human Rights (http://www.hrusa.org/workshops/HREWorkshops/usa/IAReport.htm).
2. Provide human and financial support for regional pre-service and in-service teacher training, professional development initiatives, and new training tools and resources to implement the first phase (2005-2007) of the World Programme for Human Rights Education.
3. Provide human and financial support for an international panel of teacher educators to identify overarching principles and key concepts that should be in any HRE teacher training program and oversee the development of a (OHCHR) Handbook on the Professional Training of Teachers on Human Rights Education.
4. Support regional and national training of teacher educators on HRE.
5. Develop and implement a monitoring and accountability mechanism, in partnership with human rights organizations and pedagogical institutes, on the performance of governments in implementing the teacher training component of the World Programme on HRE (2005-2007).

II. RECOMMENDATIONS TO REGIONAL INTER-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

1. Develop pre-service and in-service teacher training resources on human rights education such as training manuals.
2. Conduct regional and national training of teacher educators on HRE.
3. Develop and implement continuing professional development programs for teachers and teacher educators on human rights.
4. Develop and implement a monitoring and accountability mechanism to measure the performance of governments in implementing the World Programme on HRE (Phase 1).
5. Develop a research project in each of the regions to establish the degree to which each nation-state is making progress in meeting its international obligations in relation to Human Rights Education, using the model of Inter-American Institute for Human Rights.

III. RECOMMENDATIONS TO DEVELOPMENT, FOUNDATION, FUNDING, AND MULTILATERAL AGENCIES

1. Integrate teacher training on human rights education in their development programs in attainment of the Millennium Development Goals.
2. Allocate resources for initiatives that integrate HRE in teacher training.
3. Provide support for incentive systems for teachers to undertake human rights education such as Human Rights Educators’ Awards, Research Grants, Fellowships for Teachers, Faculty Exchanges, and Study Programs for Teachers and Teacher Educators.

IV. RECOMMENDATIONS TO NATIONAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS, INCLUDING MINISTRIES OF EDUCATION

1. Create HRE programmes and systems for: (1) preparing teachers, (2) monitoring quality and effectiveness, and (3) professional development.
2. Formulate policies and standards for teacher training on HRE, in consultation with teachers and teacher educators.
3. Encourage governments to incorporate HRE in national constitutions, existing regional inter-governmental systems, and certification standards for teachers.
4. Provide in-service teachers professional development opportunities for teaching exchanges with human rights schools or human rights organizations in other regions.
5. Develop new or revise existing National HRE Action Plans to include teacher training components on HRE.
6. Disseminate widely existing international human rights documents, constitutions integrating HRE, documents from international conferences related to HRE on a local, national, and global level.

V. RECOMMENDATIONS TO NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS/COMMISSIONS

1. Create partnerships with schools interested in teaching human rights to support teachers and provide professional development support.
2. Develop and implement a monitoring and accountability mechanism that measures the performance of governments in implementing the World Programme on HRE (Phase 1).

VI. RECOMMENDATIONS TO UNIVERSITIES AND PEDAGOGICAL INSTITUTES

1. Develop guidelines and research tools for effective Teacher Training on HRE.
2. Review existing research in HRE in pre-service and in-service teacher training.
3. Develop research priorities and support such research on HRE in teacher education.
4. Disseminate widely existing international human rights documents, constitutions integrating HRE, documents from international conferences related to HRE on a local, national, and global level.
5. Develop human rights resource centers for pre-service and in-service teachers and teacher educators.
6. Convene local, national, regional, and global conferences and teacher training on HRE.
7. Create and build a network of Universities and pedagogical institutes interested and engaged in HRE.
8. Develop HRE twinning programs and faculty exchanges between organizations/universities in different regions.
9. Provide pre-service teachers with training opportunities with a human rights educator mentor or schools, modeling the principals of human rights.
10. Develop partnership to enable pre-service teachers to have cross-regional practical training on human rights education.
11. Publish human rights education teacher training articles and research in educational journal and reviews.
12. Create partnerships with schools interested in teaching human rights to support teachers and provide professional development support.
13. Develop Internet sharing tool for emerging practices and HRE lesson plans to help in teacher training and professional development efforts for teachers.

VII. RECOMMENDATIONS TO NON-GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS, CIVIL SOCIETY

1. Develop data bank of HR educators, including teacher educators and schools, modeling human rights principals.
2. Disseminate existing international human rights documents, constitutions integrating HRE, documents from international conferences related to HRE.
3. Develop a national, regional, and global HRE Teachers’ Association to facilitate networking and teacher training.
4. Create distance-learning courses for pre-service, in-service, and teacher educators on human rights education.
5. Develop tools for lobbying governments integrating appropriate terminology and gender and children’s rights focus for country-specific and regional issues.
6. Lobby governments to allocate a percentage of its national budget for human rights education.
7. Create partnerships with schools interested in teaching human rights to support teachers and provide professional development support.
8. Strengthen the existing list serve by posting emerging practices and HRE lesson plans to help in teacher training and professional development efforts for teachers.
9. Provide human and financial support for the World Conference on HRE, including preparatory and follow-up regional meetings.
10. Ensure that teacher training on HRE is an integral component of the Governmental and Non-Governmental preparatory, working sessions, and outcome documents of the World Conference on HRE in November 2006.

[1] Participants list is Appendix 1.

[2] World Programme for Human Rights Education (A/59/525/Rev.1) in Appendix E.20

[3] World Programme for Human Rights Education (A/59/525/Rev.1) in Appendix E.23