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Children’s Human Rights and Intercultural Education: Curricular Prescriptions and Teachers’ Practices in Switzerland

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Children’s Rights from International Educational Perspectives

Part of the book series: Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research ((TPER,volume 2))

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Abstract

As previously noted in its Concluding observations on Switzerland’s periodic reports, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has raised concerns, in 2015, about the fact that human rights education is not carried out systematically in all cantons. On the ground, implementation of Article 29 – more specifically developing respect for human rights, preparing the child for a life in a free society and fostering a spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance and equality between people – depends very much on teachers’ goodwill and training. Based on two studies carried out in Switzerland this chapter will focus on two requirements of Article 29: educating children about rights and about intercultural relations. First, a critique of Article 29 and how it articulates CHRE and intercultural education will be provided. Then, we will underline how curricular or local prescriptions impact teachers’ involvement in children’s rights and intercultural education. Third, we will highlight the limited benefits of ready-to-use teaching material and the ambivalence of teachers towards this kind of tools. Finally, teachers’ lack of training on those issues and associated consequences will be addressed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The 26 cantons of Switzerland refer to the administrative subdivisions of the Swiss Confederacy.

  2. 2.

    For reasons of feasibility, our studies did not include the Italian-speaking canton and its “Piano di studio”. For a comparative curricular analysis of the three curricula see Rinaldi et al. (2020).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Children’s Rights Studies, University of Geneva, and Valais University of Teacher Education, St-Maurice, Switzerland

    Zoe Moody

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  1. Zoe Moody
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Correspondence to Zoe Moody .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Creative Industries, Education, and Social Justice, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

    Jenna Gillett-Swan

  2. Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden

    Nina Thelander

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Moody, Z. (2021). Children’s Human Rights and Intercultural Education: Curricular Prescriptions and Teachers’ Practices in Switzerland. In: Gillett-Swan, J., Thelander, N. (eds) Children’s Rights from International Educational Perspectives. Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80861-7_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80861-7_15

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-80861-7

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