Following ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989, councils involving young people have become widespread, both in developed and developing countries. However, these councils are said to reflect the hierarchical nature of parliamentary and representative democracy, leading to tokenistic…

This article considers children's agency within the framework of children's rights education. It starts by considering the ways in which agency is conceptualised within the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the implications for education. The main part of the article offers 10 propositions that offer teachers a variety of tools…

This paper is written in the context of my commitment to supporting children and young people's voices in education and the importance of global education at this time of climate and biodiversity crisis. Right now, a youth movement is growing across the world that is calling on adults to listen and take action for their futures. I argue that P4C…

Each secondary school in South Africa is legally obliged to establish a representative council of learners, a democratically elected, learner-only council. This article looks at how the representative councils of learners are realised in practice in four secondary schools. Three research questions focus on the practice of representative councils…

The forceful induction of children as child soldiers is an abhorrent violation of human rights. It is very disturbing that while many children are forcibly recruited into armed conflicts, others actually volunteer, due to their nightmarish alternatives. Although the practice has recently gained worldwide attention, awareness alone will not end the…

This article makes the case that there has been insufficient global attention to the health and development of children in the second decade of life. The author uses her vantage point of UNICEF to identify that institution's history of accomplishments for younger children and the opportunity to increase its work on adolescents, in collaboration…

This research was designed to investigate innovative practices associated with child-friendly cities initiatives in the United Kingdom and Italy and how civics and citizenship initiatives are being applied into practical programmes of exploration and learning in geography and environmental education. The Child-Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) of…

This document is a curriculum that serves as an introduction to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Designed for the upper elementary and middle grades 5-10, the curriculum has students "adopt" an infant from another region of the world, taking personal responsibility for their new brother or sister. This…

Argues that childrens' rights should be taught in the social studies curriculum. Suggests that study of the components of the U.N. convention on childrens' rights (provision, protection, and participation) is integral to achieving major citizenship goals. Includes global education, interdependence, culture, change, scarcity, and conflict as…

These five newsletter issues communicate activities of the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN) and report on information resources and world-wide activities concerning children and child rights. The March 2000 issue focuses on children's right to education, assessing the matter form a range of differing perspectives, at international and…

Discusses projects used by some teachers, texts, and other instructional materials for teaching the responsibility and participatory aspects of citizenship. Suggests that texts currently in use neglect teaching the protection of rights. Argues that corporations do more educating than schools through their commercials. Questions how some teachers…

The "ISSS Annual Conference Proceedings" is a peer-reviewed professional publication published once a year following the annual conference. (Individual papers contain references.) [For the 2009 proceedings, see ED504973.]