[hr-education] Re: Integration of HRE within formal education

Dear list members,

It’s very interesting this discussion about HRE.
 
I am Robert Gjedia, researcher and teacher trainer in the Institute of
Curriculum and Standards in Tirana, Albania. My Institute is a national
organization and is responsible for curriculum development for the
pre-university education system in Albania.

In fact, in my country we have ten years that work for inclusion of HRE in
education system.

I think that HRE is a way of thinking and behaving. It is an outlook on
life, a belief that we can make a difference. As the bases of HRE there
are the duties of people that always they have to make. All people that
are interested to work in the field of HRE have to understand clearly the
relationships that exist between rights ands duties.
 
The aim of HRE is to prepare new citizens with necessary abilities for
living in democratic system such as:
- respects and values diversity
- is outraged by social injustice
- participates in and contributes to the community that take part
- takes responsibilities for their actions
- is aware of its role as citizen and for their duties in society
 
In this context there exist many possibilities for integration of these
concepts in the curriculum. Thus, civic education is a good way for HRE
and in the fact within the new content and achievement standards now we
can find some ideas and concepts about human rights.
 
In different experiences we can find many ways for inclusion of HRE in
education system. I think there are some ways such as:
 
- Curriculum Development in school (cross + extracurricular activities
about HRE). These activities can be prepared by well-known authors in the
HRE field, and teachers can prepare many activities based on suggested
structure related with teaching themes. The subjects in school such as
social sciences (language, literature, history, geography, etc), sciences
(math, biology, chemistry etc) or arts (music, picture etc) offer many
concepts and ideas that have natural links with human rights. 
Teachers that are well trained in this field can implement HRE in the
school.
 
- It can best be implemented through a whole-school approach, involving
everyone with a stake in the education of pupils and students -- from the
children themselves to those with teaching and non-teaching roles in the
school, parents, governors/school board members and their communities in
society.
 
I think our cooperation with Albanian Center for Human Rights (NGO that
work in this field in Albania) has been very successful because together
we have worked during ten years for inclusion of HRE in new content and
achievement standards of official curriculum in pre-university education
system in Albania. In my mind, the idea that in the school exist many
possibilities for inclusion of HRE is now accepted.

Best regards

Robert Gjedia
Curriculum developer and teacher trainer
The Institute of Curriculum & Standards
Tirana, Albania
E-mail: <      >

 

 
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