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DEVELOPMENTAL AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION

LEVELS GOALS KEY CONCEPTS PRACTICES SPECIFIC HUMAN RIGHTS PROBLEMS EDUCATION STANDARDS & INSTRUMENTS
Early Childhood
• Preschool & lower Primary school
• Ages 3 to 7
• Respect for self
• Respect for parents and teachers
• Respect for others
• Self
• Community
• Responsibility
• Fairness
• Self-expression
• Listening
• Racism
• Sexism
• Unfairness
• Hurting People (feeling, physically)
• Classroom rules
• Family life
• Community standards
• Convention on the Rights of the Child
Later Childhood
• Upper primary school
• Ages 8 to 11
• Social Responsibility
• Citizenship
• Distinguishing wants from needs from rights
• Individual rights
• Group rights
• Freedom
• Equality
• Justice
• Rule of law
• Government
• Security
• Democracy
• Valuing diversity
• Fairness
• Distinguishing betweenfact and opinion
• Performing school orcommunity service
• Civic participation
• Discrimination/prejudice
• Poverty/Hunger
• Injustice
• Ethnocentrism
• Passivity
• UDHR
• History of human rights
• Local, national legal systems
• Local and national history in human rights terms
• UNESCO, UNICEF
Adolescence
• Lower secondary school
• Ages 12 to 14
• Knowledge of specific
human rights
• International law
• World Peace
• World Development
• World Political Economy
• World Ecology
• Legal Rights
• Moral Rights
• Understanding otherpoints of view
• Citing evidence in support of ideas
• Doing research/gathering information
• Sharing information
• Community service
and action
• Ignorance
• Apathy
• Cynicism
• Political repression
• Colonialism/imperialism
• Economic globalization
• Environmental degradation
• UN Covenants
• Elimination of racism
• Elimination of sexism
• Regional human rights conventions
• UNHCR
• NGOs
Older Adolescents and Adults
• Upper secondary school and adult groups
• Ages 15 and up
• Knowledge of human rights standards
• Integration of human rights into personal awareness and
behaviors
• Moral responsibility/ literacy • Participation in civic organizations
• Fulfilling civic responsibilities
• Civic disobedience
• Community services and action
• Genocide
• Torture
• Geneva Conventions
• Specialized conventions
• Evolving human rights standards

Adapted fromn the United Nations Document, Guidelines for National Plans of Action for Human Rights Education.