Abstract
Since the 2000s, China has explicitly dealt with human rights education (HRE) in education at all levels. This article investigates China’s policies, curricula, and practices of HRE in Chinese secondary schools. Data were drawn mainly from policy documents, textbooks, and interviews with school staff. Findings reveal a difference in the interpretations of human rights between China and the West that counteract the common impression of China in the West. Chinese policies clearly define the goals, content, and pedagogies of HRE in school systems, and the sampled secondary school takes initiatives to promote the “embedded” HRE through key components of schooling. These findings may reflect China’s search for HRE through an integrated approach by embedding concepts, values, and norms of human rights into school life, in accordance with China’s social changes in the post-1980s period.
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The completion of this article would not have been possible without the proposal of the special issue put forward by Professor Felisa Tibbitts and Professor Susan Katz. I am grateful to the reviewers for their insights, comments, and suggestions. I would also like to express heartfelt gratitude to participants of the sampled school for their participation in this study.
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Liang, W. China’s search for human rights education in secondary schools. Prospects 47, 41–53 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-018-9423-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-018-9423-3