Human rights textbook, image © British Council

human rights and equal opportunities

education for democratic citizenship

human rights education

Human rights materials for secondary schools

Objectives and Outcomes were:

To raise students’ awareness of human rights and citizenship issues at the local, national and global level
To increase students’ confidence in taking appropriate action for the protection of human rights within their communities
To produce materials for human rights education and English language development for upper secondary schools
To train teachers of different subjects to use the materials effectively in their classes.
To set up a bilateral (UK – Romania) project focused on students’ research on human rights issues.

Background and rationale

Improvements were needed in the area of human rights as part of Romania's transition to a fully functioning democracy and the creation of a just civic society.

Human Rights (HR), as a schools subject, provided a framework for the students' understanding of the fundamental human rights and for the development of their knowledge and understanding of democracy, of rights in action in their own lives and the lives of others.

Through Human Rights Education (HRE) the students developed values which were inclusive and open-minded including respect for diversity, respect for truth, fairness, justice, human dignity and freedom of expression.

HRE helps created a sense of inter-connectedness between the students' own communities and communities in the wider world through shared rights and responsibilities.

Achievements

Rights in Deed, the textbook for human rights education and language development, was published by Humanitas Educational in November 2002. Since publication, it has been used in human rights education classes at upper secondary school level.

Features of the textbook:

Rights in Deed was the first human rights textbook in Romania and Central and Eastern Europe that was based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and links Articles in these two documents with everyday life.
The textbook was extensively piloted across the country by teachers of English and teachers of social sciences. The response was overwhelmingly positive and, without exception, the opportunity to teach and learn about human rights was welcomed by teachers and students in different regions of the country.
Rights in Deed was a first attempt to integrate human rights education with English language development. The syllabus was a developmental framework of human rights concepts and knowledge, values, cognitive skill and language skills.
A survey on human rights issues, called Give us a voice!  was carried out as part of the project among teenagers in several countries around the world such as: Croatia, Hungary, Morocco, Romania, Russia, UK and USA.

Following the publication of the textbook, a series of human rights education workshops were organised in several regions of Romania.

The Team

The authors were seven Romanian university and secondary school teachers of English and of social sciences from different regions of the country.

The team of authors was trained at the Centre for Global Education at the York St John College, York, UK. The project was carried out under the guidance of a UK consultant.

For further details on the project please contact Ruxandra Popovici, Project manager at ruxandra.popovici@britishcouncil.ro.

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