A Critical Approach to Teaching About, Through, and For Human Rights

Abstract

This paper presents the findings from a collaborative inquiry research study that explored instructors’ perspectives and students’ perceptions of an innovative ten-day graduate level human rights education course for educators. The course was the result of a partnership between the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. The purpose of the course was to encourage students to critically examine human rights; specifically, whose human rights stories get told, how they get told, and by whom. The findings suggest that while there were worthwhile insights gained when considering on teaching about, through, and for human rights, there were also significant challenges that can inform other courses that encourage students to adopt a critical stance with topics, like human rights, that seem unassailable. Cet article présente les résultats d’une recherche menée en collaboration dont l’objectif était d’explorer les perspectives des instructeurs et les perceptions des étudiants concernant un cours de cycle supérieur de dix jours pour éducateurs sur les droits de la personne. Le cours était le résultat d’un partenariat entre la Faculté d’éducation de l’Université du Manitoba et le Musée canadien pour les droits de la personne. L’objectif du cours était d’encourager les étudiants à examiner les droits de la personne de façon critique, en particulier les récits concernant les droits de la personne qui sont racontés, la manière dont ils sont racontés et par qui. Les résultats suggèrent que, bien que le cours ait permis d’acquérir des connaissances utiles qui peuvent être enseignées sur les droits de la personne et pour ces droits, il a également permis de mettre à jour des défis importants qui pourraient s’appliquer à d’autres cours dans lesquels on encourage les étudiants à adopter un point de vue critique sur des sujets tels que les droits de la personne qui semblent inattaquables.

‘They don't have as good a life as us': a didactic study of the content of human rights education with eleven-year-old pupils in two Swedish classrooms

“…It is clear that this unilateral solidarity shields the pupils and the teachers from real situations and makes their actions symbolic (cf. Cranston & Janzen, 2017).…”

“…Human rights as an emancipative idea has been criticised for being merely symbolic, legitimising values of power and domination and lacking any substantial meaning. Critical educators emphasise the need to be aware of these values and patterns of power and domination, otherwise there is a risk that such values will be legitimised in education (Cranston & Janzen, 2017). This study uses a didactic approach to investigate the content of Swedish human rights education by analysing what is taught and learned and exploring the human rights knowledge and values that are transmitted in school; it does not ask questions about power and domination.…”