“Teaching and Learning Together”: One Model of Rights-Centred Secondary Teacher Preparation in the United States

Abstract

Perhaps in part because it never ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), the United States neither systematically focuses on children’s personalities or talents nor ensures the respect and valuing of students’ culture, as specified in Article 29 of the UNCRC. Instead, narrow conceptions of success and the particularly insidious influences of White supremacist and anti-immigrant perspectives undermine the rights outlined in Article 29. Despite these conditions, individual educators attempt to foster rights-centred education that prioritises the perspectives, personalities, and cultures of young people. We present one example of such efforts: “Teaching and Learning Together,” which positions secondary students as pedagogical partners to undergraduate, secondary teacher candidates. This project enables deep engagement with the perspectives of students—a necessary foundation for teachers who foster the personalities, talents, and cultures of their students. Providing grounding for appreciation of the rich knowledge and deep insight students and their communities bring—and an understanding of participation in their own education as a right—this program represents one model for developing the capacities among teachers in the United States necessary to realising the goals of Article 29 as an ethical imperative in the absence of any national commitment.

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