Secondary school students learn how to stand up for their rights
Leiden Law School and International School Wassenaar teamed up to inspire students to know their rights, use their voice and make a difference in the world.
For the second year running, the Department of Child Law and Health Law at Leiden University teamed up with the International School Wassenaar (ISW) to deliver a children’s rights module as part of the International Baccalaureate Middle Years curriculum.
Using inquiry-based learning, middle-year students were encouraged to explore their rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and develop their own advocacy campaign on a local or global issue that mattered to them. At the end of term, ISW students hosted a ‘Children’s Rights Exhibition’ showcasing their advocacy projects to parents, teachers, and members of staff from the Department of Child Law and Health Law.
Combining law and computer science
As part of this year’s module, the Child Law department teamed up with LUDev, a student-led software development project run by the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS). Together LUDev and the Child Law department developed the children’s rights resource platform (crrc-leiden.nl) – a child-friendly search engine for youth to find advocacy tools and accessible materials on children’s rights.
Empowering children as rights-holders
The partnership reflects the International Baccalaureate’s emphasis on inquiry-based teaching and learning, global citizenship, community engagement and action. Students learn what their rights mean, but also examine how rights work in practice, evaluate the information produced for them and engage directly with people in positions of power.
‘Young people are growing up amid profound environmental, political and social uncertainty,’ said Michael Hindmarsh, Head of Curriculum at ISW. ‘Children’s rights education can help students make sense of the world around them, engage critically with injustice and actively engage with their community’.
Sheila Varadan, Assistant Professor of Children’s Rights at Leiden University, added: ‘If we want to empower children as rights-holders, we must do more than simply teach children about the CRC. Children must be able to exercise their rights, participate in decisions that affect them and act in solidarity with other children.’
Advocacy in action: From child labour in chocolate production to mobile-phone bans
DThe students’ projects covered a striking range of local and global children’s rights issues. One group examined child labour in cocoa and chocolate production in Africa, asking how businesses, governments and consumers could take more concrete action to protect children from economic exploitation. Other groups focused on violence and exclusion, examining the rights of children with disabilities in Turkmenistan, and the toll of violence in the education system in South Africa.
Several students turned their attention to mobile phone bans in the Netherlands, examining how they impacted their right to play, access information and freedom of expression. One group met with the ISW Head of School to discuss children’s input in the mobile phone ban policy, while another group published an advocacy letter in the local newspaper, The Wassenaar Krant.
‘The exhibition showed students that their views and opinions do matter,’ said Michael Hindmarsh, adding: ‘They are not only learning about human rights in the abstract. They are applying them to real issues, communicating with people in positions of authority and considering how they can contribute to positive societal change.’
About the partnership
The children’s rights module is part of an ongoing collaboration between Leiden Law School’s Department of Child Law and Health Law and the International School Wassenaar. It is coordinated by Michael Hindmarsh, Head of Curriculum at ISW, and from Leiden Law School Dr Sheila Varadan, Assistant Professor of Children’s Rights, Ruhama Abebe, PhD Fellow, and Sayeh Mohammadi, PhD Fellow.