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RIGHTS RESPECTING SCHOOLS

GOOD PRACTICESFOR LEADERSHIP OF A RIGHTS RESPECTINGSCHOOL

Supplement to Workshop 5

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BUILDING BLOCK 4

Every child.Every opportunity.No exceptions.

BUILDING BLOCK 4

RIGHTS RESPECTINGSCHOOLS:

GOOD PRACTICES FOR LEADERSHIP OF A RIGHTSRESPECTINGSCHOOL

RIGHTS RESPECTING SCHOOLS: GOOD PRACTICES FOR BUILDING AWARENESS | 1

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThank you to the network of local and national organizations across Canada that participates in the Friends of Rights Respecting Schools (FRRS). This collaborative forum is responsible for the leadership and implementation of the Rights Respecting Schools initiative in Canadian schools. Read more about the members of FRRS at rightsrespectingschools.ca.

The Rights Respecting Schools initiative was originally initiated and developed by UNICEF Canada for Canadian schools. Thank you to all the staff at this organization that worked tirelessly to envision, develop, implement, test and monitor, and champion this innovative educational approach.

Special recognition goes to the UK Committee for UNICEF for its support and guidance on the development of Rights Respecting Schools in Canada. A number of the good practices highlighted in these guides come from the extensive experience of the schools in the United Kingdom participating in the Rights Respecting Schools Award.

A very special thanks to the staff and students at Cape Horn Elementary School, Coquitlam British Columbia for starting on this journey back in 2008, for being Canada’s first Rights Respecting School, and for providing valuable input and feedback. Special recognition goes to the Principal of Cape Horn Elementary School, Bill McGovern and the teachers there, who have poured so much passion, time and energy into this initiative. Thank you to Coquitlam District School Board staff Sharon LeClair and Maureen Dockendorff for their support of Cape Horn Elementary and the Rights Respecting Schools initiative. And lastly, thank you to Kelly Quinlan, Global Classroom Manager for British Columbia, who worked with the students and staff at Cape Horn to pilot the first Canadian Rights Respecting School.

UNICEF Canada would like to extend special gratitude to all of the schools who have participated in the pilot phase of this initiative. The contributions and feedback of many students, staff and parents have informed the development of the resources and tools for this initiative.

Copyright © 2013 UNICEF Canada.

email: [email protected] website: rightsrespectingschools.ca

2 | RIGHTS RESPECTING SCHOOLS: GOOD PRACTICES FOR LEADERSHIP

http://www.rightsrespectingschools.ca/

mailto:[email protected]


ABOUT RIGHTS RESPECTING SCHOOLSRights Respecting Schools is a whole school initiative that uses the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as a basis for building an inclusive and respectful school culture. In these schools children’s rights are adopted as guiding principles that inform a common set of values shared by all members of the school community. These common values create a sense of community and become the lens through which students, teachers, school administrators and parents make decisions, choose behaviour, and participate at their school.

Research on more than 1,600 UNICEF Rights Respecting School Award (RRSA) schools in the United Kingdom demonstrates that participating students have improved self-esteem and are more engaged in their learning. Students have been shown to become engaged by learning how to voice their opinions, participating in decision-making, resolving conflict peacefully, and understanding global social justice issues. They are also found to have a positive attitude towards diversity, which has led to a reduction in prejudice and bullying.

The Rights Respecting Schools initiative was developed by UNICEF Canada for Canadian schools and is implemented by a network of local and national organizations, known as the Friends of Rights Respecting Schools.

For more information about the Rights Respecting Schools initiative, visit rightsrespectingschools.ca.

ABOUT THE FRIENDS OF RIGHTS RESPECTING SCHOOLS The Rights Respecting Schools initiative in Canada is facilitated by a network of local and national organizations with mandates and expertise in social justice and human rights, children’s rights education, student-centred learning and global citizenship. The collaborative forum for RRS-trained facilitators from these organizations is the Friends of Rights Respecting Schools (FRRS). The Friends of Rights Respecting Schools are responsible for the leadership and implementation of the Rights Respecting Schools initiative in their jurisdiction (regional or provincial/territorial).

For more information about the Rights Respecting Schools initiative, visit rightsrespectingschools.ca.

RIGHTS RESPECTING SCHOOLS: GOOD PRACTICES FOR LEADERSHIP | 3

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CONTENTS

RIGHTS RESPECTING SCHOOLS: GOOD PRACTICES FOR LEADERSHIP OF A RIGHTS RESPECTING SCHOOL

INTRODUCTION TO THIS GUIDE................................................................................................................. 5

Purpose of this Guide........................................................................................................................ 6

Using this Guide................................................................................................................................ 6

PREPARING TO USE THIS GUIDE WITH WORKSHOP 5........................................................................... 7

Checklist to Prepare Materials........................................................................................................... 7

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES.......................................................................................................................... 8

SECTION 1: GOOD PRACTICES BY BENCHMARKBenchmark 18.................................................................................................................................... 9

Benchmark 19.................................................................................................................................... 10

Benchmark 20.................................................................................................................................... 11

Benchmark 21.................................................................................................................................... 12

Benchmark 22.................................................................................................................................... 13

Benchmark 23.................................................................................................................................... 14

SECTION 2: APPENDICESAppendix 1: Suggestions for Creating a School Mission, Charter and Code of Conduct.................. 16

Appendix 2: Policies and Procedures……….………………............................................................... 17


INTRODUCTION TO THIS GUIDERights Respecting Schools: Good Practices for Leadership of a Rights Respecting School was created to support Canadian schools in their process to becoming a Rights Respecting School.

This is the fourth in a series of four guides that provide good practice examples for schools. This fourth guide provides examples of good practices to provide strong rights respecting leadership at schools.

The Rights Respecting Schools initiative is based upon four building blocks:

AwarenessThe school community (students, staff, teachers, parents) knows and understands the concept of children’s rights, the rights children have as outlined in the Convention and how children’s rights relate to school culture and to their own roles.

Student ParticipationEvery student has regular opportunities to be an active participant in the school community, and his or her opinions are sought and listened to by decision makers.

Teaching and LearningThe Convention is a reference point for classroom rules, formal and informal curriculum implementation and other decision-making. Adults model rights respecting attitudes and behaviour, and students are given regular opportunities to learn about and exercise their rights and responsibilities.

LeadershipAdministrators are committed to promoting respect for children’s rights. Children’s rights are used as a lens for policies, program choices, program implementation, and other decision-making.

Under each of the four Rights Respecting Schools Building Blocks are a number of Benchmarks or objectives that each Rights Respecting School works toward achieving. Since this guide addresses how to build awareness of children’s rights, the relevant Benchmarks to achieving that in Rights Respecting Schools are:

Building Block 4: Leadership

18. The school has a mission statement, charter and code of conduct that reflect the principles of the Convention.

19. The school reviews its policies and procedures, and ensures that they reflect the principles and rights articulated in the Convention.

20. Conflicts between students, and between students and adults, are resolved with rights-consistent decisions and policies.

21. School staff are recruited and inducted to be able to support and advance progress as a Rights Respecting School.

22. School community stakeholders have opportunities to improve their knowledge and understanding of the Convention, its relevance to the school, and its relation to local, national and global issues.

23. The school takes active and regular measures to assess its progress as a Rights Respecting School.


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PURPOSE OF THIS GUIDEAs schools undertake the process to becoming a Rights Respecting School, they benefit from learning about the good practices and ideas of schools that have undertaken the process before them. This guide compiles good practice ideas from rights respecting programs, resources and schools and organizes them in line with the benchmarks under the fourth RRS Building Block: Leadership.

The goal is for this guide is to provide ideas to schools as they begin to develop their own plan for transforming their learning environment and school culture.

USING THIS GUIDE

When to Use This GuideThis guide is first introduced during Workshop 5: Leadership for a Rights Respecting School from the Rights Respecting Schools Workshop Series. During this workshop, schools examine Building Block 4: Leadership in detail and begin to think through what they might do to achieve the Benchmarks under Building Block 4.

To determine how to prepare this guide for use during Workshop 5, read Preparing to Use this Guide on the following page. It will give instructions as to how many copies you will need of the materials in this guide.

Otherwise use this guide for ideas for how cultivate effective and strong leadership of a Rights Respecting School. This guide is of particular help when working on the Rights Respecting Schools Action Plan.

OrganizationIn this guide the good practice ideas have been organized by the Benchmark that they address. Most good practice examples are also accompanied by other resources that schools can turn to for further support and ideas. During Workshop 5: Leadership participants will examine each Benchmark and the good practice idea accompanying it. The intent is for the participants to see good practice examples before determining which activities and approaches their school will implement to achieve the benchmarks under RRS Building Block 4: Leadership.

Further ResourcesSome activities listed will be accompanied by one of the following images, which indicate where the tools or further information is available.

Indicates the page number in the Appendix where tools to support the good practice activity can be located.

Indicates the URL where tools can be found on the RRS website or on a different online source.

Indicates the additional resource that supports that good practice idea. See below for a list of all the additional resources referred to in this guide.


PREPARING TO USE THIS GUIDE WITH WORKSHOP 5During Workshop 5 of the Rights Respecting Schools Workshop Series, participants break into 6 groups and each group examines one of the six benchmarks under Building Block 4: Leadership.

CHECKLIST TO PREPARE MATERIALSPrepare the following materials for the six break-out groups mentioned above.

Group 1: Benchmark 18q 1 copy of Benchmark 18 – page 9q 1 copy of Appendix 1: Suggestions for Creating a School Mission, Charter and Code of Conduct –

pages 15-16

Group 2: Benchmark 19q 1 copy of Benchmark 19 – page 10q 1 copy of Appendix 2: Policies and Procedures – pages 17-20

Group 3: Benchmark 20q 1 copy of Benchmark 20 – page 11q 1 copy of Additional Resource: Restorative Conflict Resolution – available at

rightsrespectingschools.ca

Group 4: Benchmark 21q 1 copy of Benchmark 21 – page 12

Group 5: Benchmark 22q 1 copy of Benchmark 22 – page 13q 1 copy of Additional Resource: Creating a Rights Respecting Classroom – available at

rightsrespectingschools.caq 1 copy of Additional Resource: Children’s Rights and Social Justice Book List – available at


Group 6: Benchmark 23q 1 copy of Benchmark 23 – page 14q 1 copy of Additional Resource: Creating a Rights Respecting Classroom – available at



ADDITIONAL RESOURCESSome of the good practice ideas in this guide are supplemented by additional resources separate from this guide. See below for the additional resources that support this guide and where to find them.

Children’s Rights and Social Justice Book ListThis annotated booklist provides ideas for children’s books on various children’s rights related, social justice and environmental issues.

Download this resource at rightsrespectingschools.ca.

Creating a Rights Respecting ClassroomTurn to this resource for classroom and school activities that engender a democratic and participatory school environment.


Restorative Conflict ResolutionThis guide provides teachers and classes an introduction to restorative practices for democratic conflict resolution.





BENCHMARK 18The school has a mission statement, charter and code of conduct that reflect the principles of the Convention.

Creating a School Mission, Charter and Code of Conduct:This benchmark should be completed once the students in the school have had the chance to work on their own classroom charters and understand the fundamentals of children’s rights. Find below an example of a fun, creative, and inclusive approach for creating a school mission statement, charter and code of conduct that reflect the principles of the Convention. Read Appendix 1: Suggestions for Creating a School Mission, Charter and Code of Conduct for specific ideas to carry out the steps below.

1. Set a School Plan: Work as a staff to set a plan that will ensure a creative, inclusive and democratic approach to designing a new mission, charter and code of conduct for the school.

2. Conduct Visioning Exercise: Each classroom spends time envisioning their rights respecting school and preparing to share their vision with the school community.

3. Share Visions: Classrooms share their vision for a rights respecting school with the wider school community.

4. Creating a Code of Conduct: Elected students work together with the Children’s Rights Team to incorporate student feedback into a school wide mission and code of conduct.

5. Announce and Celebrate Vision, Charter and Code of Conduct: Students choose a medium to announce and share, in child-friendly language, the school’s policy commitment to Rights Respecting Schools within the school and surrounding community.

Suggestions for Creating a School Mission, Charter and Code of ConductAppendix 1Pg


Reviewing Policies and Procedures:

This process can seem overwhelming for schools. It is not expected that schools will review all of their policies at once. The time should be taken to involve students in this process – to apply a rights respecting approach to reviewing school policy. Read Appendix 2: Policies and Procedures for specific ideas to carry out the steps below.

Schools may want to engage people from outside of the school community to assist in this process. Some options may include:

1. Invite a PhD student from a local university to lead the process. Contact departments of law or education to get one who may have relevant interests or experience.

2. Invite parents of the school to sit on a Policy Committee to lead the process. Schools can put a call out to parents who have a particular interest in or experience with policy work.

Find below the steps a school could go through to review policies and procedures. See the Appendix to assist with Steps 2 and 3. The process recommended for schools to review policies and procedures includes:

1. Identify the order in which the policies and procedures will be reviewed.

2. Provide opportunity for students to identify how their rights are impacted by the policy or procedure.

3. Conduct a compliance test on the policy or procedure to ensure that it reflects and articulates the rights identified by students, and other relevant rights.

4. Ensure the revised policy or procedure is made available in child-friendly language to students.

Policies and ProceduresAppendix 2

BENCHMARK 19The school reviews its policies and procedures, and ensures that they reflect the principles and rights articulated in the Convention.

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Resolving Conflict:

During the process of reviewing school policies and procedures, the school can incorporate the restorative justice practices as discussed and explored during Workshop 4: Teaching and Learning through a Rights Lens (see the Restorative Conflict Resolution Guide).

Restorative practices enable people to restore and build community in an increasingly disconnected world. The most important function of restorative practices is to restore and rebuild relationships after conflict, disagreement and harm.

Conflicts can be resolved with restorative practices that include the discussion of rights. For example, the five restorative questions used to rebuild relationships include a recognition of the rights that have been impacted:

1. What happened?

2. What were you thinking at the time?

3. Who was affected and how were their rights impacted?

4. What can you do to help those who were affected?

5. How can everyone better respect the rights of others in the future?

Concrete Steps for Schools:

1. Teachers can use the lesson UNICEF Canada developed to introduce teachers and students to this practice in the Restorative Conflict Resolution Guide.

2. School ground staff and parent volunteers can undergo brief training sessions to help them understand the concept of restorative practice and learn to use the five restorative questions.

3. Students can be encouraged to participate in circle forums in order to resolve conflicts democratically. Show students and parents the video The Forum: Conflict Resolution in a Circle available for download at: creducation.org/cre/homebase/content_video/2397/

4. Staff can receive professional development training from organizations experienced in restorative practices, such as the International Institute for Restorative Practices in Canada. See their website at: canada.iirp.edu/.

Restorative Conflict Resolution GuideDownload this guide at rightsrespectingschools.ca

BENCHMARK 20Conflicts between students, and between students and adults, are resolved with rights-consistent decisions and policies.

http://canada.iirp.edu/

APPENDIX 1


Hire Staff to Further a Rights Respecting Ethos

There are many ways a school can ensure that new hires will fit into the rights respecting ethos of a school. Examples of ways this can be done include:

1. Include students in hiring practices by allowing them to develop questions and interview the potential hire.

2. Hire teachers who reflect the diversity of the student body.

3. Include questions about the Convention and how it relates to education and their practice.

4. Hire teachers who are interested in engaging in classroom and extra-curricular activities that address the “whole child” and know what gaps you have in your school staff (eg. music, dance, art, yoga, meditation, etc.)

5. Ask potential hires to bring a portfolio that includes examples of how they implement democratic pedagogy or incorporate children’s rights into their position (for administration positions).

Example from a Rights Respecting School: A kindergarten student at a Rights Respecting School in the United Kingdom was able to participate in the hiring process for a new cafeteria staff member. The questions the student asked included:

Do you like children? Do you yell at children? Are you a good cook?

Induct and Train Staff to Further a Rights Respecting Ethos

Consider these ideas:

1. Have students welcome job interview candidates with a tour and orientation to the school’s rights respecting ethos and activities.

2. Develop a specific mentorship program established with existing staff to assist new staff in learning about the Rights Respecting culture of the school.

3. Put information about Rights Respecting Schools and rights respecting education into staff handbooks to orient new staff.

BENCHMARK 21School staff are recruited and inducted to be able to support and advance progress as a Rights Respecting School.


Use These Ideas to Link Children’s Rights and Local, National and Global Issues:

This building block can be met by bringing local, national and global issues into the classroom. Teachers can do this by:

1. Using UNICEF Canada’s Global Citizenship Calendar to connect international days to children’s rights in the classroom. Download at rightsrespectingschools.ca.

2. Use lesson plans and case studies from UNICEF Canada’s Creating a Rights Respecting Classroom supplementary teacher resource to connect local and global issues.

3. Keep up-to-date with children’s rights issues in Canada on UNICEF Canada’s website unicef.ca and global issues on the international UNICEF website unicef.org.

4. Let your students practice democracy by engaging in a mock election through the organization, Student Vote at studentvote.ca.

5. Follow the business of the City Council by bringing students to meetings on issues that impact them and preparing students to ask the Council questions or present to the Council.

6. Invite local MPs and MPPs into the school to provide opportunities for students to ask questions of their political representatives. Consider having an MP visit in honour of National Child Day – November 20. Visit unicef.ca/ncd to learn more about this opportunity across Canada.

7. Use the power of stories to interest students in different children’s rights and social justice issues. Check out the Children’s Rights and Social Justice Book List for engaging and powerful books.

Creating a Rights Respecting ClassroomDownload this guide at rightsrespectingschools.ca

Children’s Rights and Social Justice Book ListDownload this guide at rightsrespectingschools.ca

BENCHMARK 22School community stakeholders have opportunities to improve their knowledge and understanding of the Convention, its relevance to the school, and its relation to local, national and global issues.

APPENDIX 1:

RRS KICK OFF WEEKWhile the activities above provide ways to keep the community aware of and involved with RRS, many schools celebrate their new journey by hosting a Kick-Off Week.

Whole-School

Host a school-wide assembly and remind everyone of what becoming a Rights Respecting School means. Show one of the videos at rightsrespectingschools.ca. Invite students to make a presentation on children’s rights.

Send home information on children’s rights with the school newsletter. (See the example newsletter and Exploring Rights with Your Child handout.)

Community

Invite members from the local community (business owners, local organizations) to attend the school-wide assembly with an invitation that explains how the school is aiming to become a Rights Respecting School. (See Invitation to Kick Off Assembly for a sample that can be adapted.)

Students

During the Kick Off Week, consider doing classroom activities that introduce the concept of children’s rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child to students. Use the section Teaching Respect for Rights in the resource Creating a Rights Respecting Classroom for activities by grade level.

Parents

Invite parents to participate in the school-wide assembly. They are often more likely to attend when they know their children have a role in the assembly.


Use These Ideas to Assess Progress of Your Rights Respecting School:

The Rights Respecting Schools: Toolkit for Canadian Schools provides the tools and resources needed for your school to assess progress using surveys. Schools involve students in the process and data collection for Rights Respecting School assessment during the Initial Rights Assessment (Step 3) and the Follow-Up Rights Assessment (Step 7). Work through these steps with the support of your RRS Facilitator.

Create the RRS Action Plan which gets reviewed at the end of a cycle (i.e. end of each school year). The process helps the school community reflect on the extent to which certain benchmarks have been fulfilled and which ones still require more attention.

Use the Follow-Up Rights Assessment at the end of each cycle (i.e. end of each school year) to reflect on change that has occurred at the school as a result of the RRS initiative.

Staff can reflect regularly (i.e. at staff meetings) on the success of rights respecting activities.

Can encourage student and parent reflections by having a comment box in the front office so that they can give suggestions, ask questions or share concerns about the RRS initiative.

Creating a Rights Respecting ClassroomDownload this guide at rightsrespectingschools.ca

BENCHMARK 23The school takes active and regular measures to assess its progress as a Rights Respecting School.


APPENDIX 1:

SUGGESTIONS FOR CREATING A SCHOOL MISSION, CHARTER AND CODE OF CONDUCT

1. Set a School Plan: Before engaging students in the process of creating a school mission, charter and code of conduct, school staff should decide how they will provide opportunities for students to be a meaningful part of the process.

a. Choose a method for students to express and share their vision. See below for examples.b. Choose a method for students to either vote on or work collaboratively to incorporate visioning ideas

into a school mission and charter. This method may depend on the medium chosen for students to share their visions.

Examples of ways students can express and share their vision: Create a large mural on a wall in the school with a section for each class to contribute Create classroom word clouds to post around the school (tagxedo.com) Create a collage of photos taken by the students Host a school assembly where each class can perform a song, play, poem, dance (any

performance art) Create a story book which includes a page per classroom for their expression of their vision of a

rights-respecting school.

2. Conduct a Visioning Exercise: Once the school has set their plan, each class should have the opportunity to conduct a visioning exercise. Here are some steps a class can go through to allow each student to envision their own rights respecting school and then collaborate with their peers to create a shared vision.

i. Explain to students that they are going to help the school write a new mission statement and school charter. Teachers can explain that a mission statement is similar to the concept of “going on a mission”. It is a statement about an end goal – a goal the school would like to achieve to be rights respecting. This statement will keep the school on the right path.

ii. Teachers may want to review the classroom charter here, having the students reflect on which rights they chose to include in their charter to create a rights respecting classroom. Were there any rights left out that they might now include? Why?

iii. Explain that the first part of the mission statement and school charter process is to have each individual student think about what their ideal rights respecting school would look like. It is important to the school that everyone’s opinion is heard in this process.

iv. Put a variety of writing/art tools around the classroom (paint, paper, play-dough/clay, crayons, markers, glue, glitter, magazines, etc.). Explain to the students you will be asking them to picture in their minds what their ideal school would look like and record their thoughts in any way they choose. Students can use the writing/art tools to record their vision through words, images, or any other way.

v. Have the students choose a place to sit quietly, where they are comfortable, and use the questions below to guide students through an activity of envisioning their ideal rights respecting school. As you ask the questions, students can express their vision through art or words on the tools they choose. Teachers can adapt these questions based on the age of the students. What would your ideal rights respecting school look like if you had the power to change it?

- What would the school teach?- What does success look like for a student?- What does the classroom look like?


http://www.tagxedo.com/

- How do the students behave?How does the school staff behave?

- What does the playground look like?- What extra-curricular activities do the students do?- What sounds do you hear?

vi. Put the students into small groups and have them share their vision for a rights respecting school with each other. Once students have done this, ask the group to think about their school in 10 years. What will their rights respecting school look like then? What needs to happen in the school to make this vision come true? Ask the students to work together to come up with one positive statement about their school vision for 10 years from now. Each group then shares this statement back to the other groups in the class.

vii. The class will then incorporate the statements from each of the groups into a classroom vision of a rights respecting school. Students can work together to prepare their vision to be shared with the other classrooms, in the medium agreed upon by the school.

3. Share Visions: Classrooms share their vision with the wider school community.

4. Democratic Decision Making: Students are able to vote upon a common mission for the school. i. The school should determine a process the students will go through to either vote on the

classroom visions or incorporate the different visions together into one vision. Example processes could include:a. Students vote with stickers on wall murals b. Students vote on other student performances using a dotmocracy process

(dotmocracy.org)c. Students upload their visions to social media and vote online.

1. Creating a Code of Conduct: Elected students should work together with the Children’s Rights Team to incorporate student feedback into a school wide mission and code of conduct.

i. Create a team to finalize the school mission and charter. This could be done with the elected student council and members of the Children’s Rights Team.

ii. The group assesses the results of the voting process on classroom visions and uses this data to create a mission statement. Sample mission statements can be found here: missionstatements.com/school_mission_statements.html

iii. Once the students have created a mission statement, they can begin to create the School Charter. This process will be similar to creating a classroom charter. Students begin by discussing the rights most important to achieving the mission. Students can then discuss the rights respecting behaviours that will ensure the school stays on a path to achieve their mission. They might also explore how the school will use restorative justice to ensure students are respecting the rights of others. The Charter can incorporate the restorative justice practices already developed by the school.

iv. Note: As the Charter is created, ensure that child-friendly language is used so that it is accessible to all students.

2. Announce and Celebrate Vision, Charter and Code of Conduct: Have students in the school choose a medium to announce and share, in child-friendly language, the school’s policy commitment to Rights Respecting Schools with the school and surrounding community.


http://www.missionstatements.com/school_mission_statements.html

http://dotmocracy.org/

APPENDIX 2:

POLICIES AND PROCEDURESUse these ideas to ensure school policies and procedures are in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Gathering Student Feedback

1. Summarize the policy or procedure into child friendly language so students can understand the content and impact of the document.

2. Use the Rights Cards (available for download from rightsrespectingschools.ca) and the questions below to have students provide feedback on the policy or procedure.

Which rights are addressed by this policy or procedure?

Which rights could be affected by this policy or procedure and are not discussed in the document?

What is missing from this policy or procedure that should be included?

Conduct a Compliance Test

One of the best ways to ensure the implementation of children’s rights in schools is to put children at the forefront of the policy and decision-making agenda by embedding the Convention in the vision, objectives and frameworks of policies. This makes the Convention a visible reference and provides a children’s rights lens in all ensuing programs, actions and initiatives.

We do this by conducting a Children’s Rights Compliance Test on a school policy. A compliance test is done by analyzing how an existing policy promotes and provides for the rights of the child as outlined in the Convention. Two key points of reflection revolve around to what extent the policy promotes and protects the best interests of children and to what extent the views of the child are ascertained and considered during the development and implementation of the policy.

By considering the best interests of the child, we are minimizing any negative impacts the policy would have on children and maximizing the positive benefits of the policy for children.

By considering the views of the child, we are prioritizing the meaningful involvement of children and their right to be consulted in decision-making that affects them. We are encouraging transparency and participation in policy development and implementation and we are upholding children’s right to appropriate information that contributes to their well-being.

See an example of a Children’s Rights Compliance on the following pages.


CHILDREN’S RIGHTS COMPLIANCE TEST ON SCHOOL POLICYUse this compliance test to determine how an existing school policy promotes and provides for the rights of children as outlined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

STEP 1: Use the Rights Cards to identify which specific articles of the Convention are impacted (positive or negative) by the school policy being examined.

STEP 2: Discuss the following questions in relation to the school policy being examined. Make notes in the areas provided.

SECTION 1: Impact on Children

Does the policy have any direct implications (positive or negative) for children or children’s rights? Does it have any indirect (positive or negative) significant effect on children? What impact does it have on the general welfare of children?

SECTION 2: Impact on compliance with international and national instruments How does the policy relate to, promote, inhibit or contravene the provisions of the Convention? Does the policy take into account the general principles and articles of the Convention? How does the policy contribute to the achievement of any goals identified by the government in relation to

children?


CHILDREN’S RIGHTS COMPLIANCE TEST ON SCHOOL POLICY(CONTINUED)

SECTION 3: Valuing the Views of Children

To what extent have children been involved in the drafting, implementation, and monitoring of this policy? Have all (including young, vulnerable, minority and excluded) children been given an equal opportunity to

participate? What do children think about this policy? How were the views of children ascertained? Does the policy reflect this? Is there a need to ascertain – or ascertain more explicitly – the views of children?

SECTION 4: In the Best Interests of Children What are the best interests of children in regards to this policy, according to children themselves? What are the best interests of children in regards to this policy, according to adult stakeholders? How can any differences in opinion be resolved? How does this policy take these best interests as a primary consideration?


CHILDREN’S RIGHTS COMPLIANCE TEST ON SCHOOL POLICY(CONTINUED)

SECTION 5: Impact on Families and/or Community Who are the family and community stakeholders involved? To what extent have they been consulted and involved in the planning, implementation and evaluation

of this policy? Is advocacy and education needed to gain their support? If so, what might this entail?

SECTION 6: Impact on Different Groups of Children

Are the rights of one group of children more affected than those of another group of children? Are there any competing interests between groups of children, or between children and other groups?


OVERALL RECOMMENDATIONS

Documents

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