politics for the 99%

Linking human rights and education in a revised Constitution has huge implications for those training teachers – Published on Times Higher Education THE, by Audrey Osler, July 17, 2014.

… The festivities are particularly noteworthy this year for another reason: Norway has revised its Constitution. Yet it’s not just the language of the Constitution that’s been updated. Buried in the document is a new clause addressing education, which may have considerable significance for those working in higher education, particularly those engaged in teachers’ professional education … //

… The Constitution now proclaims that “education shall promote respect for democracy, the rule of law and human rights”. Constitutions rarely make an explicit link between education, democracy and human rights; Norway’s is also significant in that all laws and rulings – including practices in higher education – must comply with it. In selecting applicants for teacher training, grading papers and awarding qualified-teacher status, teacher trainers will need to confront this constitutional clause about the purpose of education. It will be impossible to claim that anything goes, in the name of tolerance. Undemocratic perspectives in education (such as racist, sexist or other practices that operate contrary to human rights standards) will no longer simply be morally intolerable but will also be unconstitutional. Those engaged in the education of future teachers will need legal guidance; and teachers in training will need to develop an understanding of human rights in legal terms but also as a principle for learning to live together.

Constitutional standards are not an inoculation against extremism, but they offer safeguards. At Eidsvoll we saw youngsters enacting the roles of early 19th-century revolutionaries. Maybe in the 2014 constitutional amendments another, quiet, human rights revolution has occurred.

(full text).

Related Links (keys: human rights / constitution / education)

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, on UN.org;
• Right to education, on en.wikipedia;
• human rights / constitution / education, on Google Web-searach (principally of many countries);
• Videos – uploaded by unesco:
  Education for Human Rights … Young People Talking, 12.43 min, April 14, 2011;
  Breaking Barriers – Education for marginalized children in Kenya, 4.36 min, Feb 5, 2010;

Other Links:

Dalit Women (We are not untouchable – End caste discrimination now), 6.56 min, uploaded by IDSNvideo, June 7, 2012 … Website: International Dalit Solidarity Network IDSN.org, Denmark;

UN CEDAW Committee raises serious concern for Dalit women and the lack of implementation of laws, on IDSN.org, July 3, 2014 … Website: Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women CEDAW, on UN.org;

Lecture: The Relationship Between the European Court of Human Rights and National Constitutional Courts? 58.59 min, uploaded by Cambridge Law Faculty, Feb 25, 2014;

Pakistan in Perspective: Minorities, Constitution and Human Rights, uploaded by Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, January 2012:

• Part 1, 30.47 min;
• Part 2, 28.57 min;
• Part 3, 30.38 min;
• Part 4, 33.28 min;
• Part 5, 29.50 min;

… and this:

• After the Fall of the Romans: The Mysterious Dark Ages, 60.07 min, uploaded by History Tube, May 18, 2013;

… und noch das:

• Wird bald ein Ruck durch Deutschland gehen – Andreas Popp, 68.15 min, von Leo Neuner am 27. November 2013 hochgeladen.