Teachers and Human Rights Education - Softcover

This book is a delight: readable, comprehensive, committed and stimulating. It [gives] a solid grounding in a topic which inspires students around the world if taught in the right way. If you are interested in doing that, buy it. (London Review of Education.)

A book by Audrey Osler and Hugh Starkey gives rise to certain expectations: a clear and accessible style of writing; ideas and arguments that are logically structured and cogently presented, and an underpinning sense of commitment to human rights and human rights education. This book is no exception, presenting a coherent and wide-ranging rationale for human rights education, identifying and examining practical and ideological challenges to its implementation and providing a systematic analysis of its implications and its potential for transformative action in education. Focused primarily on human rights education in formal education, its potential audience includes teachers, teacher educators and student teachers." (Educational Review)

"This heartfelt, thoughtful, articulate debate on human rights education focuses on the need to integrate HRE into the global school curriculum. Osler & Starkey's literate and highly readable book moves the debate to the forefront of educational philosophy and practice." (Citizenship, Social and Economics Education)

"Although primarily intended as a text for postgraduate studies, it contains food for thought and practical information equally useful for classroom teachers." (Teaching Citizenship)

How can schools promote democracy? Whose values should take precedence in multicultural societies? Can schools safeguard both children's rights and those of teachers?

Campaigners, politicians and the media regularly cite human rights to justify or challenge actions that range from peaceful protest to military action. The phrase 'human rights' appears to have become a slogan in need of a definition. Human rights education seems more urgent than ever.

This book clarifies the relevance of human rights to teachers' everyday work. The authors draw on a range of international examples to illustrate how schools can enable young people to work towards the ideals of justice and peace in both the school community and the wider world. The application of human rights principles is applied as the basis for living together in diverse societies.

The book is a key text for the UN World Programme on Human Rights Education 2004-2014 and for distance learning courses on human rights.