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International human rights, citizenship education, and critical realism

Alderson, P; (2016) International human rights, citizenship education, and critical realism. London Review of Education , 14 (3) pp. 1-12. 10.18546/LRE.14.3.01. Green open access

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Abstract

Citizenship education invokes dilemmas even for the most committed teachers and students, researchers, and innovators. How can citizenship education advance equity and equal rights within highly unequal schools and societies? How can it support young people to feel they have the competence, confidence, and right to vote and to challenge injustice? How can we be sure international human rights are realities, not merely passing ideologies? This paper argues that rights really exist as expressions of visceral embodied human needs and moral desires that are integral to human relationships. Rights also serve as powerful legal structures that can help to prevent and remedy wrongs, and they work as enduring high standards and aspirations. The paper suggests how critical realism can help educators to resolve dilemmas in theoretical education about rights as knowledge, principles, and mechanisms, and in practical education that enables students to enjoy and exercise their rights and respect those of other people.

Type: Article
Title: International human rights, citizenship education, and critical realism
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.18546/LRE.14.3.01
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.18546/LRE.14.3.01
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2016 Alderson. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Keywords: children's rights; critical realism; embodied rights; ethics; politics; universal rights
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute
URI: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1531964
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