GLP Expert Centre Coordinator S Notes

GLP Expert Centre Coordinator’s Notes

NB: These notes and accompanying materials are intended for guidance only. More information is provided than may be required and Coordinators are encouraged to use it selectively and interactively.

Title: Human Rights Education: from charity to social justice

Twilight session: Optional

Session objectives

1. To introduce Coordinators to Human Rights Education.

2. To show how Human Rights Education can help to achieve the aims of the GLP, particularly in relation to ‘moving from a charity based approach to social justice’.

3. To share examples of activities and resources which can be used to enable pupils to understand Human Rights and apply a Human Rights lens to the study of poverty and development.

4. To signpost Coordinators to ways in which their schools and pupils could engage further with Human Rights Education in the future.

Structure: 1 hour 20 minute session

Agenda items / Time allocated / Activity / Method/Resources
1. Welcome, and introductory activity / 10 minutes / What’s in a bag?
Show short Amnesty International animation to introduce rights in the UDHR. / Participants sit in circle/semi-circle. Need a shopping bag or P.E. bag containing objects that link to rights, e.g. pencil, tap, apple or medicine bottle. 1st person places hand inside the bag and describes one object – others guess what it is. Pass bag around the circle. Which right does each object represent?
Access the short film through the linkon the ‘Human rights’ page of the Equality and Human Rights Commission website.
If you have more time or as an alternative:use Handout 1 – what do we know already about human rights?
2. Introduction to Human Rights Education and connection with GLP / 10 minutes / Presentation on:
What are Human Rights?
The values underpinning rights
How HR link to global learning / Slides 1-8
3. Introducing the UDHR and UNCRC to children and young people / 15 minutes
(Divide group in half.) / Presentation Slide 9
Wants and Needs (KS2)
Right up my street (suitable for KS2 and 3)
As an alternative for teachers who work with upper KS3, use Handout 2: Human Rights Timeline. / Slide 9 introducestwo activities:
1) In small groups, participants separate the cards into ‘wants’ and ‘needs’. Compare the cards they have categorised as ‘needs’ with the rights in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Discuss: What is the value of the exercise? How would it work with the groups you teach? How could it be developed?
UNICEF Canada ‘Wants and Needs’ cards:
Card and activity kit available on e-activist website. Also contains a ‘child-friendly’ version of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
2) In small groups, participants see how many rights they can spot in the street scene. Use small strips of paper to stick on top of the poster indicating rights enjoyed and rights under threat (or denied). Have summaries of the UDHR or the Rights of the Child available.
Discuss: Was this useful? How could it be developed? E.g. In Geography, map the rights enjoyed and under threat in your local area, and compare to a contrasting locality.
Hand out: UDHR simplified version and/or Convention on Rights of the Child simplified version. The UDHR simplified version can be downloaded from the Amnesty website:

Large poster of street scene: 1 per small group. Can be ordered free (in advance) or downloaded from Amnesty International UK:

Agenda items / Time allocated / Activity / Method/Resources
4. Human Rights and Development / 20 minutes / PresentationSlides 10-12
Introduce Human Rights framework questions
Divide into three groups, give each group a different development related story to read and analyse using the Human Rights framework questions.
Feedback in plenary, share what the story was about and discuss the value of using a Human Rights framework. / Suggested stories
Gamachu Boru from Ethiopia or the story from Peru in Our World of WaterbyBeatrice Hollyer and Oxfam. Available to buy:

Chaga and the Chocolate Factory –story of a boy from Mali forced to work in cocoa plantations in West Africa. Free to download:

Four Feet, Two Sandalsby Karen Lynn Williams and Eerdmans. Story of girls in a refugee camp on Afghanistan border with Pakistan. Available to buy:

Quick feedback from each group:
How did they find using the Human Rights framework to analyse the story? Do they know of any other stories / films which could be looked at in this way?
NB: If you are working with secondary teachers, consider asking one group to view and analyse the Amnesty film ‘Deep Sea’ from ‘Poverty and Human Rights’, using the same HR framework questions.
The film can be found here:

Agenda items / Time allocated / Activity / Method/Resources
5. Reflection and ideas for development / 15 minutes / Share examples of how other schools have developed rights in their school.
Ask participants to reflect on what they could do in their school. Remind them that they can use their e-credits for staff to attend more detailed courses on HRE. / Slides14-15
Coleman primary school in Leicester, main display focused on universality of rights and individual classes illustrated specific rights.
Slides 16-19
In Durham, Hartside Primary School chose the Rights of the Child as the basis for the theme for their school link in Tanzania. Both schools established school councils, learnt how each other enjoyed the right to play and devised playground charters to make play inclusive.
Go through slides on ideas for development and give out this session plan and Handout 3 with further links to HRE providers. Give five minutes for participants to think how they could develop this work in their school, e.g. staff attend further training, become a UNICEF Rights Respecting School, explore children’s rights with their international partner school, set up an Amnesty group, use more HRE resources in the classroom etc.
Play UNICEF film:
‘We’ve all got rights!’ video available from their website.
6. Evaluation / 5 minutes / Quick wrap up and evaluation / Three stars and a wish. Ask participants to write down three things they enjoyed/found helpful about today’s input and one thing they would have liked. Could be addressed next time.

The resources are used courtesy ofAmnesty International.