a Botswana
b India
c Northern Ireland
d Zimbabwe
The school and curricular structures of each of the four countries are of course quite distinct. It is necessary to sketch these, and key points which arose from the interviews, before analysing the findings of the student survey.
The basic school structure provides for seven years of primary schooling starting at the minimum age of six years in the public schools, followed by three years of junior and two years of senior secondary schooling. In 1996, at the time of this study, a third year of junior secondary schooling was being phased in.
The philosophy of the current Ten Year Basic Education (TYBE) policy embraces some concepts of human rights. Its Curriculum Blueprint states, among other objectives, that it "develops moral, ethical and social values, cultural identity, self esteem and good citizenship; prepares citizens to participate actively to further develop our democracy and prepares them for life in the 21st century."
Botswana follows an infusion policy which allows for the accommodation of emerging issues. In the former nine year scheme (followed by students who answered the questionnaire) the carrier subject for human rights was social studies, and only one topic - "Our Government" - was relevant. In the new syllabus there are more topics related to human rights principles and practices-concepts, violations, responses to violations, gender issues and children's rights.
Also moral education and guidance and counselling are making a contribution, for example in a practical approach involving cooperation between the Ministry of Education and the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) called Peer Approach to Counselling by Teens (PACT).
Given that the changes to the curriculum had not affected them, it is perhaps not surprising that 13 out of the 20 students interviewed in depth said that the questionnaire was hard. Of the ten teachers and administrators interviewed, six said human rights were not taught to teachers at all, and three said partly; nine thought they were only partly covered in school work. Among the students, the average reply was that only three out of the seven dimensions of the Conceptual Map were being taught; they had particular difficulty with the question about the law and administration of justice, partly because theft was seen as rare in Botswana
Teachers, administrators and students were virtually unanimous that books and supporting materials were inadequate. A majority of the students (12 out of 20) said their families were interested in human rights, and 18 out of 20 said they were best treated as a cross-curricular them rather than in one or two subjects.
All the teachers and administrators said they wanted to see NGOs involved. There was unanimity that a stronger policy for human rights education was needed and nearly all wanted work to begin in primary school; nine out of ten wanted human rights to be examined. In order to make a cross-curricular or infusion approach work they felt there should be more effective pre-service training for teachers, a greater clarity in objectives, and monitoring of what happens in the classroom. They did not see a role for teachers' professional associations.
The first ten years of schooling in India, divided into primary, upper primary and secondary stages, provide for general education with an undifferentiated curriculum. All curricular areas are compulsory for all students.
Some of the major components relating to human rights are: the basic features of the Indian political system and constitution; problems and challenges of contemporary Indian life; the diversity and variety of Indian culture; the Indian social system and dynamics of social change; major events in Indian and world history relating to struggles for political, civil, economic and social rights, and the role played by common people and outstanding leaders; the world human rights situation, particularly the violations of colonialism, racism and apartheid; relevant literary works; the biological unity of the human species; major historical documents such as the US Declaration of Independence, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
At the upper primary stage the major subject areas relevant to human rights education are social sciences, science and languages. At the secondary stage there is a significant input in social sciences (history, geography, civics and economics) in science and languages.
All areas listed in the Conceptual Map are covered in the school curriculum in one form or another. The approach is cross-curricular and issues which are integral to a particular subject are covered within it. Thus issues relating to law and the administration of justice, to equality of opportunity, to civic and social rights and responsibilities, and the legitimacy or otherwise of violence by the state, are dealt within Civics courses at various levels. Colonialism and independence are covered in the History syllabus.
In the project interviews, therefore, it was not surprising that most students said that, except for violence and identity, all other dimensions were covered in the curriculum, particularly in Civics and History. Teachers thought the areas missing were violence and consumer rights. But there was a widespread consensus that most issues are being covered, though the educational administrators thought there was a need to look again at the curriculum, identify inadequacies, and update and enrich it. There had been no major studies before on the impact on students.
At present human rights do not feature in pre-service teacher education, but the topic is now included in in-service programmes, although teachers and principals considered it received little attention there. As far as materials were concerned, the major shortage was in the audio-visual area.
Students, teachers and administrators all endorsed the cross-curricular approach. Teachers and principals wanted a more elaborate treatment of the various concepts, emphasised the importance of the language curriculum and of an interactive mode of teaching and learning. Interview respondents were divided on the question of exams.
While some human rights ideas could be introduced earlier, the general view was that the age of 11 was the right time to start. It was felt that there are no major policy issues involved in human rights education.
The Northern Ireland system is segregated by religion, in that most children attend predominantly Protestant ("controlled") schools or Catholic ("maintained") schools; by ability (and some would argue social background) in that a selection system operates at age 11 to decide which children attend grammar schools (attended by around one third); and often by gender (particularly in second level education, where almost half of all grammar schools and a quarter of other secondary schools are single sex).
Altogether, young people are required to spend twelve years at school between 4 and 16, and pupils spend a minimum of five years in second level schools.
Inevitably the conflict in Northern Ireland over the past 25 years has implications for the school curriculum, and helps to explain why Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom to have a statutory commitment to something approaching human rights education. This is in the form of a cross-curricular theme called Education for Mutual Understanding (EMU). This is one of six cross-curricular themes which are not timetabled subjects in their own right, but which all teachers are expected to take account of when planning programmes of study.
The aims of EMU, which are largely focused on inter-communal understanding within Northern Ireland, are to enable pupils to "respect and value themselves and others; to appreciate the interdependence of people within society; to know about and understand what is shared as well as what is different about their cultural traditions; and to appreciate how conflict may be handled in non-violent ways." 6
6 Smith A and Robinson A in Education for Mutual Understanding: Perceptions and Policy, University of Ulster, surveyed post-primary schools carrying out voluntary EMU policies just before EMU became compulsory.
In addition to EMU, the audit of the statutory curriculum in Northern Ireland indicated human rights opportunities across a range of timetabled subjects, although this work is not currently referred to as "human rights education" in an explicit way. History, English, religious education, environmental and developmental aspects of geography and personal and social education (PSE) would appear to offer most potential. Currently, in History, students may study the changing status of women, the Holocaust, the use of atomic weapons, the break-up of the European empires, the growth of the Commonwealth and United Nations, and civil rights movements.
In PSE there are modules on family life and parenting, rights and responsibilities in the community, taxation, equal opportunities, and employment rights and responsibilities. There are plans to introduce a module on "political understanding" which would include politics and government, civil liberties, law and order, and citizenship. However PSE programmes are developed at school level, so the quality of implementation can vary.
Interviews with the students indicated that they had little overall understanding (the trig picture), but found it easier to respond to the practical issues presented in the questionnaire. They had some difficulty with it, particularly in answering the open-ended questions. They felt that law and the administration of justice and identity were not adequately dealt with by the curriculum; 14 year olds also mentioned civic and social rights and responsibilities.
All the teachers and advisers saw human rights as important, thought that they should be reflected in school ethos, and that there is no specifically human rights focus currently in the curriculum. Human rights as a term is somewhat problematic in Northern Ireland, being regarded by many Protestants/Unionists as synonymous with civil rights and agitation by Catholics/Nationalists. The majority of teachers and advisers favoured a cross-curricular approach, as it was felt that human rights should permeate the curriculum.
Teachers were evenly divided on the question of using a cross-curricular approach alone, or a dual cross-curricular and modular strategy. Advisers favoured the dual option as there has been much criticism of the efficacy of cross-curricular delivery7. Human rights do not currently feature in teacher education, either at initial or in-service levels. It was considered that this situation should be redressed, and might need a Ministerial directive.
7 Whitty, Rowe and Aggleton, Subjects and themes in the secondary school curriculum, London.
Zimbabwe embarked on a drastic reorientation and expansion of its education system after independence in 1980. The structure now includes a primary cycle of seven years from around 6 to 13, followed by three phases of two years each in secondary education.
Through education the government is seeking to build a firm unitary state, aiming to produce citizens who are able to realise their civic responsibilities and legal obligations. Consequently all school curricula should reflect the multi-ethnic character and diversities of the nation, and should be relevant to the requirements of the country's development. Civic education is taught through a number of subjects, including social studies, religious and moral education, education for living, languages and history.
The Commonwealth Values research team carried out an inquiry in the five schools selected for the project and focused on five compulsory subjects in the first two years of the secondary curriculum which seemed to be in line with the seven dimensions of the Conceptual Map. These were Shona and Ndebele (the major local languages), English, religious and moral education, and Education for Living.
This survey showed that, although opportunities to teach human rights abound in the language subjects, teachers were more concerned with improving language skills and the ability to communicate. Religious and moral education is not seen as relevant to human rights in the schools. While history shows the struggle for political, economic and social rights, the teachers do not always give it a human rights interpretation. Syllabus options also do not necessarily lend themselves to a human rights interpretation.
Education for Living, introduced after independence, was supposed to be compulsory but had been pushed to the back seat in most of the schools visited. Although of obvious significance in understanding political, economic and social rights it was the least valued secondary school subject in terms of time allocation, textbook provision and the preparation and support of teachers.
In the interviews, all 20 students thought human rights important. Among dimensions in the Conceptual Map they expressed greatest concern over a lack of coverage of law and the administration of justice, and equality of opportunity. A majority of pupils in three of the five schools thought the teachers and authorities were taking human rights seriously, and all pupils thought their parents were interested (though some said that fathers were less interested in gender issues).
Interviews with heads and subject heads revealed strong agreement that the training and support of teachers should be a key priority, since human rights are not yet included in initial training. They wanted a start on human rights at the primary stage, and thought that teachers' associations and NGOs had a role. They felt that the first task was to revive Education for Living and raise its status, since they thought it should be the greatest carrier of human rights concepts.
