Children have the right to a voice, to education and to education about their rights, as outlined in Article 12 and Article 29 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Child rights-based education can support children to be empowered with critical agency and exposed to connection to the wider world, better equipping them to become young global citizens and act in ways that demonstrate empathy and commitment to diversity, dignity, and equality. To obtain this goal, education systems must be aligned to foster these attributes and empower children to develop and exercise the capabilities that will best serve them in childhood as well as adulthood. This paper considers how we can support the empowerment and capabilities development of children through child rights-focused education using an integrated framework of empowerment, capabilities (Sen, 1999), and social constructivist (Vgotsky, 1978) education. Building on the foundations laid in the development and evolution of children’s rights, setting out the theoretical underpinnings and drawing on a case study of a rights-based education project, this paper will consider how rights-based education can be feasible and beneficial.

Higher educational institutions must radically (re)envision teaching and learning opportunities. Provision of content through learned scholars is insufficient. There is a need to curate innovative, integrative, and transformational education. This chapter explores how collaborative, team-based learning provides relevant, innovative, and generative approaches to working through real-world, urgent, complex, social, environmental and economic issues. Collaborative and team-based learning can support student citizenship, changemaking capacity, collaboration, respect for diversity, and effective practice across a range of professions. Despite the opportunities, team-based exercises pose significant challenges for students. Drawing on an action-oriented research project, this chapter discusses ways to improve processes to support students' team-related skills to further their success and student citizenship.