"Children's rights: do you know them?" is the title of the free educational tools available to teachers from all over Switzerland. This year's focus is on the topic of a "clean, healthy and sustainable environment".
Experience children's rights:
Pestalozzi Children's Village's commitment
"Children's rights: do you know them?" project is scheduled to run for four years. Every year, a new children's rights topic is addressed and prepared for professionals. The aim is always to sensitise children and young people to their rights - after all, they are often directly affected by the individual articles. They should be encouraged to learn and develop the skills that are essential for their development and their involvement in society.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1989, formulates the rights of the child. The work of the Pestalozzi Children's Village is based on safeguarding these rights and making them tangible for the children and young people. Depending on the project country, the focus is on different children's rights. The Pestalozzi Children's Village always establishes a link to the individual living environment of the children and discusses the concrete implementation together with all stakeholders. n August 2023, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child specified and published relevant guidelines that states must fulfil in order to guarantee children's right to a clean, healthy and sustainable life.
The practical realisation of children's and human rights often does not find a place in everyday school life. One reason for this is that the ideal way to teach children's rights is through personal dialogue and practical experience. We address this challenge with our projects and our expertise. The newly developed teaching material offers precisely this opportunity for everyday school life: experience-orientated learning.
Children's rights education means providing a framework in which children and young people can try things out for themselves. They should be given space to discuss their own and others' opinions and attitudes and to scrutinise attitudes and values. These teaching materials have been developed with this in mind.
Free tools in three national languagesThe
new teaching materials will be made available to teachers free of charge in three national languages. The didactic materials, which consist of three teaching cycles, relate to the curriculum and are supplemented by inclusive material in simplified language. The active participation of children and young people in the development process of the materials and in choosing the theme for the year was very valuable. It is essential for the quality of the materials to have the direct involvement of the pupils, as they are the experts in their life situations. The aim of the materials is to promote discussion and familiarisation with the topics of children's rights in everyday school life.
The educational teaching materials were developed in cooperation between the organisations Integras, terre des hommes schweiz / Terre des Hommes Suisse and the Pestalozzi Children's Foundation.