[hr-education] Goals and objectives of HRE

Dear List Members,

The past week we discussed the theoretical framework, legal bases and
history of human rights education. Although the topic was challenging,
there were very interesting contributions that help us get a better
understanding of HRE as a movement. Various contributions from the
regional listservs were translated from Arabic, French, Russian and
Spanish into English and vice versa. Within the next days you will receive
a summary message with the highlights of the dialogue.

Some background for our conversation. HRE as a movement has grown
exponentially over the past decade. In practice, HRE often overlaps with
other educational programmes or movements that include human rights when
teaching. Like HRE, these programmes typically adopt a curriculum
integration approach, participatory methodologies, issues relevant to the
daily life of the learners, and include the teaching/learning of
knowledge, skills and attitudes. Depending on their main focus, such
programmes are called peace education, sustainable development education,
democratic education or education for democracy, global education, values
education, etc. To consolidate a discipline requires shared concepts and
terminology to facilitate understanding and to create a true community of
theorists and practitioners. HRE should not be an exception.

During the first week of discussions many contributors pointed out that
HRE stands apart from other "educations" because of its history (often HRE
was inspired by opposition against dictatorships and totalitarian regimes
and gained ground during periods of transition to democracy); its
normative framework; and the international (the International Bill of
Human Rights that include the right to know one's rights, UNESCO) and
regional (e.g. the Council of Europe) legal framework. This week (6-12
October) we propose to concentrate on the goals and objectives of human
rights education. Does HRE also differ from other "education" in its goals
and objectives?

The following questions can guide our discussion:

- what specific learning goals does HRE have in the areas of content
knowledge, attitudes/values, and skills? How might these vary by learner
group? How are these goals similar or different from those of related
disciplines?

- HRE is committed to the promotion of justice. How can HRE forward this
in ways that are uniquely different from other educational approaches?

- the language of HRE refers to empowerment and action. Are these goals
realistic for HRE and how can we facilitate learning to achieve this?

Please be specific and mention examples from your country or region, if
possible.

We hope you will share your insights and experiences We also encourage you
to continue to send messages about the first topic of this on-line Global
Forum: the theoretical framework, legal bases and history of human rights
education.

Warm regards,

the Moderators,
HREA
Asia-Pacific Regional Resource Center for Human Rights Education (ARRC)
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
Instituto Interamericano de Derechos Humanos (IIDH)
Union Interafricaine des Droits de l'Homme (UIDH) 



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