scholarly journals A Conceptual Model of Children’s Rights and Community-Based Values to Promote Social Justice Through Early Childhood Curriculum Frameworks

2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Caplan ◽  
Colleen Loomis ◽  
Aurelia Di Santo

<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="section"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>A “rights-integrative approach to early learning” has been </span><span>proposed as a foundation for curriculum frameworks. Building </span><span>on this work we conceptually explored the complementarity </span><span>and compatibility of children’s rights to autonomy, protection, nondiscrimination, and participation, with community-based values of prevention and promotion, empowerment, diversity, and civic participation. We argue that it is necessary to infuse a rights-based approach with community-based values in early childhood curriculum frameworks to promote social justice for children as individuals and as a relational community. </span><span>Our proposed expanded conceptual framework may be useful </span><span>for evaluating early learning frameworks, nationally and internationally, from a rights-based social justice perspective. </span></p></div></div></div></div>

Author(s):  
Sarah Te One

A combination of research and policy initiatives in early childhood has resulted in a growing interest in young children’s rights. It is a complex discourse characterised by ambiguous understandings of what children’s rights are. This article discusses some of the main early childhood policies and documents from the mid-1980s until the release of the Strategic Plan (Ministry of Education, 2002), with a focus on children’s rights – a focus that has been, at times, subsumed by other contextual influences, including political and economic agendas. While research findings and policy initiatives now appear to be more aligned, children as citizens with rights are still vulnerable.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 250-260
Author(s):  
Insan Sheny Priyandita ◽  
Mubiar Agustin

The discourse on freedom of speech, in particular when expressing an opinion on the provisions of the Rights of the Child, is often ignored by a trend of change in education that is too concentrated on the authoritarian educational process that prioritizes the success of academic learning rather than the socio-emotional success of children. It is important to communicate the experiences and feelings experienced by children, particularly bullying that occurs early in childhood. This research would examine the importance of free expression in children's rights to the prevention of bullying in early childhood through a decolonization approach. This study employed a literature review approach with a transformative paradigm which take a look at critical thoughts about children's rights, particularly freedom of speech that aims at preventing the bullying that occurs in early childhood. This study argued that the process of preventing bullying and even other negative behavior is effective when parents and teacher properly enforce the rights of children, especially freedom of speech. These results further illuminate the complexities faced by teachers in the application of free expression in early childhood education in daily life.


2019 ◽  
pp. 37-53
Author(s):  
Jane Hewes ◽  
Tricia Lirette ◽  
Lee Makovichuk ◽  
Rebekah McCarron

The shift toward a pedagogical foundation for professional practice in early childhood along with the introduction of curriculum frameworks in early learning and child care, calls for approaches to professional learning that move beyond transmission modes of learning towards engaged, localized, participatory models that encourage critical reflection and investigation of pedagogy within specific settings. In this paper, we describe ongoing participatory research that explores educator co-inquiry as an approach to animating a curriculum framework. A story of curriculum meaning making that opened a hopeful space for critical pedagogical reflection and changed practice serves as a basis for deeper reflection.


2021 ◽  
pp. e20210034
Author(s):  
Alice-Simone Balter ◽  
Deborah Gores ◽  
Tricia van Rhijn ◽  
Adam W.J. Davies ◽  
Taylor Akers

Learning about sexuality is an important part of development in early childhood but is not formally considered in early learning settings. This makes sexuality education for young children both rare and inconsistent across early learning settings. The purpose of this paper is to provide a unique contribution and inform the state of sexuality education in early learning settings in Canada, which is currently an understudied area. We describe the Canadian context of sexuality education in early learning settings and examine its presence in provincial and territorial early learning frameworks. We advocate for the inclusion of sexuality education in early learning settings because it can support children’s development and construction of sexuality, is a critical factor in providing children with personal safety skills and a part of child sexual abuse prevention work, and also sets the foundation for equity and social justice in teaching children about diversity as a norm. We discuss the barriers which act to exclude sexuality education in early learning settings including a lack of curriculum and policy to guide early learning professionals in addressing and supporting this domain, fear of parent reactions, and theoretical constructions of childhood innocence. We conclude with practice and policy recommendations to move the field forward.


2021 ◽  
pp. 141-160
Author(s):  
Richard P. Hiskes

This concluding chapter begins with a discussion of how the global coronavirus pandemic called attention to children’s rights issues, specifically in how children were not allowed to participate in decisions directly affecting their “best interests,” as required by CRC. Granting children human rights will fundamentally alter the nature of both democracy and human rights. Giving children citizenship rights will renew democracy, as past enfranchisements have, but also will push democracies to resemble less Western, liberal models. Group rights will predominate in democracies where children are full citizens. Also, the human rights agendas of child-incorporating democracies will be dominated by social and economic rights issues, since children’s rights of protection and provision will be given priority. Finally, children’s participation rights will emerge as crucial in diminishing structural inequality in democratic societies, providing a pathway to a fuller form of social justice predicated on the human rights of children.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document