UNICEF UK’s Rights Respecting Schools Initiative and Evaluation

Judy SebbaRees Centre for Research in Fostering and

EducationJudy.sebba@education.ox.ac.uk

1. Material well-being 2. Education 3. Health and safety 4. Peer and family relationships 5. Risky behaviours 6. Young person's own subjective sense of

well-being.

What is the problem?UNICEF (2007) Report Card 7: Six dimensions

UNICEF’s Rights Respecting School Award

• The RRSA seeks to put the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child at the heart of a school’s ethos and culture to improve well-being and develop every child’s talents and abilities to their full potential.

• A rights-respecting school is a community where children’s rights are learned, taught, practised, respected, protected and promoted.

• Young people and the school community learn about children’s rights by putting them into practice every day.

Four overarching standards:

Standard A: Rights-respecting values underpin leadership and managementThe best interests of the child are a top priority in all actions. Leaders are committed to placing the values and principles of the UNCRC at the heart of all policies and practice.Standard B: The whole school community learns about the UNCRC. The Convention is made known to children and adults. Young people and adults use this shared understanding to work for global justice and sustainable living.Standard C: The school has a rights-respecting ethos. Young people and adults collaborate to develop and maintain a rights-respecting school community, based on the UNCRC, in all areas and in all aspects of school life.Standard D: Children are empowered to become active citizens and learners.Every child has the right to say what they think in all matters affecting them and to have their views taken seriously. Young people develop the confidence, through their experience of an inclusive rights-respecting school community, to play an active role in their own learning and to speak and act for the rights of all to be respected locally and globally.

The evaluation 2007-2010 [followed by Best Practice Review in 2011]

• annual visits to 12 schools across five LAs 2007- 2010; 8 primary, one middle, one secondary special, 2 secondary

• single visits to a further 19 schools across 10 additional LAs in Spring 2010

• 9 had achieved Level 2 by end of evaluation• 18 had achieved Level 1• collected documentation, undertake interviews &

observation• Followed some primary pupils through to secondary

Aim of the evaluation

The aim of the evaluation was to assess the impact of the RRSA on the well-being and achievement of children and young people (CYP) in the participating schools including measures of academic attainment and gains in emotional and social skills, knowledge and understanding.

Overall findings

For the majority of schools, the values based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and

‘guide to life’ provided by the RRSA has had a significant and positive influence on the school ethos, relationships, inclusivity, understanding of the wider world and the well-being of the school community.

Overall, schools were very positive

• After 16 years as head teacher at […] school, I cannot think of anything else we have introduced that has had such an impact. Head teacher, infant school

• Relationships are fabulous, absolutely amazing. Governor/parent, secondary school

• [Without Rights Respecting Schools] I don’t think you’d get a good education. It affects your learning. Year 7 pupil, secondary school

9

Comments from those involved• Rights aren’t just in school, you can take them anywhere.

In some countries, children have less rights. (Year 4 pupil)• Children are more outspoken to what they used to be. I

wonder if they have too much say? (midday supervisor)• My rights but others’ responsibilities (Year 5 pupil)• When I first came here there was more fighting, but things

have settled down now. We’re shown how what we do affects others and affects how they feel (Year 5 pupil)

• When my 4 year old held forth in Tescos on why I should buy Fairtrade to help the farmers, I was less sure RR schools was a good idea? (parent of reception pupil)

Students, staff, governors & some parents in schools had extensive knowledge & understanding of the CRC, reflected in their use ofrights respecting language, attitudes and relationships.

Relationships and Behaviour• All 31 schools were characterised by very positive

relationships between pupils, between staff, and between pupils and staff. “There used to be more detentions and now there are hardly any. People behave better everywhere. Even the boys.” Year 6 pupil

• Listening, respect and empathy were evident and there was little or no bullying or shouting.“There used to be a lot of screaming and shouting when I first came to the school but now people talk to each other.” Administrative staff, secondary school

• Staff and pupils reported experiencing a strong sense of belonging.

• Where conflicts arose, pupils were more likely than previously to resolve these for themselves.

Year 6 pupils in one primary, on hearing that only the US and Somalia had not yet signed up to the UNCRC became incensed commenting ‘…well America is huge, what’s their problem?’

They decided to write to the new president.

Pupils made a positive contribution on local and global issues as a result of their increased awareness of the universality of children’s rights and the extent to which these are denied.

Elie Primary School Fife• The pupils demonstrated very sophisticated

understanding of the UNCRC, rights, responsibilities and how these relate to national and international events.

• The displays of their written work which they spoke about covered such issues as the poverty in Britain, riots, Tsunami, Madonna’s adoption of a child, etc., addressed through ‘Newswatch’.

• Staff commented on how children discussed these news items in a more sensitive and better-informed way. Pupils from the RRSA working party reported that pupils in school now understood that poverty is experienced in the UK, not just in other countries.

‘Newswatch’- the tracking of news items that address the denial of children’s rights across the world.

Elie Primary School Fife

Inclusivity and diversity

• Across all schools, uniformly positive attitudes to diversity were reported and this was reported to have improved over the three years e.g.the children are far more tolerant of each other, and of each other’s difficulties and understandings of things (parent/TA)

Bridport Primary School Article 12

Pupils actively participate in decision-making in the school community: • The school council has been involved in developing playground

mediation. • They also observe lessons and the feedback informs performance

management. • Pupils interview prospective members of staff, observe lessons and

give feedback but some of these processes are not linked to the school council work.

• Pupil-led learning was initiated by a pupil requesting that they have more say in what they learn. Every half term the children choose a topic for the day (most recent one was poetry) and they teach each other.

Children have exciting coloured room to attract attentionChildren’s work displayedChildren approach teachers wellChildren engaged with teachers

Giving gestures going around. Full of enthusiasm

TAs helping children with work. TAs put to useTAs involved with children

Teacher lets children talk quite a bitChildren involved with how they start the lesson

Participation in decision-making: increase in involvement of school councils in staff appointments, evaluating teaching and learning and the governance of the school

Exclusions, attainment & FSM• Fixed-term exclusions decreased in 13 schools,

stabilized in 3 of the 26 schools for which data were available. 5 schools had no fixed-term exclusions throughout the period.

• From 2007 to 2010, eight of the 14 schools that had more than 20 percent of children eligible for free school meals (FSM) improved their attainment; seven improved their attendance and six reduced their fixed-term exclusions.

• Three of the four schools with over 50 per cent FSM increased attendance and attainment and reduced their fixed-term exclusions.

• RRSA may mediate the influence of poor socio-economic circumstances on outcomes.

Issues for further consideration• Rights mapped 1:1 with corresponding responsibilities, e.g. ‘The right is

to come to school. And the responsibility is ….for you to get up on time and come to school’

UNICEF guidance reiterates the relationship between ‘unconditional rights’ and ‘learned responsibilities’, distinction between ‘having’ and ‘realising’ a right & that rights and responsibilities need not correspond one-to-one. • A very few pupils provided evidence of clashes between home and

school cultures arising from the RRS award work e.g. ‘My dad refers to them as Pakis’

• Midday supervisors, supply teachers and visitors sometimes needed further support to recognize what it means to be in a rights respecting school.

• Concerns that fund-raising might sometimes be tokenistic providing feel-good factor with no greater understanding of the effects of their actions

• Pyramid work to maximise benefits of transfer to other schools.

Acting on the recommendationsHow do you approach the linking of rights and responsibilities?

The three main points to remember are: • The rights of the child are not conditional on responsibilities. Rights

do imply responsibilities but are independent of responsibilities. • A right cannot be withdrawn as a punishment but what can be

withdrawn is the opportunity to infringe other people’s rights. • Adults working with children need to model rights respecting

behaviour and use rights respecting language in order to reinforce the benefits of this values system

OFSTED REPORTS“The school’s work on the UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools programme has enabled pupils to grow in maturity and develop a positive understanding of their rights and responsibilities. Pupils talk about the school’s very good links with the community and say they enjoy taking part in fund raising activities. ...By the time pupils leave the school they are articulate and confident and prepared very well for the next stage of their education.”

“Pupils thoroughly enjoy school and this is reflected in their enthusiastic participation in lessons, and their above average attendance. ‘You are not left alone when you are new, everyone wants to make friends,’ is a typical comment made by pupils.”

Primary school reports 2008

The KS2 test was, 'To write a short speech to persuade your class to support your choice of charity.'31 children sat the paper and 5 of the children mentioned. 'rights'. (primary not in study)

Baroness Morgan: …The point of the Rights Respecting Schools award is that it is about encouraging children to understand the needs of others, to respect others and to understand their responsibilities.

Baroness Garden: My Lords, will the Minister say what feedback has been received from the schools adopting this UNICEF …

Baroness Morgan: My Lords, we have asked Sussex University to evaluate the impact of Rights Respecting Schools, because this is a very important intervention. …We know that Sussex University is seeing early encouraging signs, such as improvements in the playground, where children have to deal with difficult situations where conflicts and bullying arise. There are very encouraging signs with the development of this programme.

House of Lords debate 3 Feb 2009

Other evaluations

Covell et al. (2011) looked at 3 primary schools in England who had implemented RRSA and concluded:

…fully implemented children’s human rights education, among its other benefits, may be one means of narrowing the gap between socially disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers.

Critique 1: Lundy (2007)

Lundy (2007, p. 933) proposes the need to: unpack Article 12 by ensuring that children are involved in each stage of educational decision-making which requires provision for:• Space: Children must be given the opportunity to express a view.• Voice: Children must be facilitated to express their views.• Audience: The view must be listened to.• Influence: The view must be acted upon as appropriate.Without paying attention to all four of these, notions of student voice may diminish the impact of Article 12 through education providers offering tokenistic compliance to consultation but not responding to, nor acting upon children’s views.

Critique 2: Leitch (2013, p.219)

In order to achieve full recognition of children’s rights, teachers need to be supported to extend their skills in collaborative and participative inquiry with their students, on how to redefine power relationships in classrooms and to increase their understandings of the increased ethical demands this requires.

Accumulating evidence from international research …suggests that genuine student voice strategies can be transformational experiences for schools, teachers, pupils and communities.

28

“All children must have rights, because all children are the same, whether coloured, big, small, everybody’s the same and if they didn’t have rights, they may not grow up nice.” Jasmin

Knights Enham Junior School, Andover

References

• Covell, K., Howe, B. and Polegato, J. (2011) Children's human rights education as a counter to social disadvantage: a case study from England, Educational Research, 53, 2, 193 - 206

• Leitch, R. (2012) Student voice in a global context: Rights, benefits & limitations. In C. Day (ed.) (2012) Routledge International Handbook of Teacher and School Development London: Routledge

• Lundy, L. (2007) Voice Is Not Enough: Conceptualising Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, British Educational Research Journal, 33, 6, 927 - 42

• Sebba, J. & Robinson, C. (2010) Evaluation of UNICEF UK’s Rights Respecting Schools Award London: UNICEF UK

• Available: http://www.unicef.org.uk/Documents/Education-Documents/RRSA_Evaluation_Report.pdf

• UNICEF UK (2013) Rights Respecting Schools Award: A Best Practice Review London: UNICEF UK Available: http://www.unicef.org.uk/Documents/Education-Documents/RSSA_Good_Practice_Review.pdf