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Child Rights and School Psychology: A Context of Meaning

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International Handbook on Child Rights and School Psychology

Abstract

The school community in its optimal form is organized and designed to promote child development and learning in ways that will serve the child and the community. In the general case worldwide, the expectations, goals, and processes of the school community fall significantly short of appreciation of the nature of children and the human condition. School psychology has incorporated that context of limited view and accomplishment. This book proposes a child rights approach infused into all aspects of school psychology as a primary force toward achieving the full realization of school psychology’s potentials to respect and serve the best interests of children and their societies. This chapter presents the rationale and context for a child rights approach framed through exploring the related context of meaning, the historical pathway to children’s rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the related responsibilities and opportunities for school psychology, and the footholds of promise revealed by appreciative inquiry.

This chapter incorporates, in original or modified form some material from an invited online collection essay by the first author initially posted by Sage Journals for School Psychology International in 2014: Child Rights and School Psychology: Toward a New Social Contract at http://spi.sagepub.com/site/special_issues/childrights.xhtml and more recently available at https://journals.sagepub.com/page/spi/collections/special-issues/child-rights.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Institute for Child Rights and Development, Victoria, BC, Canada

    Stuart N. Hart

  2. Jane Pauley Community Health Center, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Brannon W. Hart

Authors
  1. Stuart N. Hart
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  2. Brannon W. Hart
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Bonnie Kaul Nastasi

  2. International Institute for Child Rights and Development, Victoria, BC, Canada

    Stuart N. Hart

  3. Department of Psychology, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Shereen C. Naser

Appendices

Appendix A: Human Rights Detailing of Golden Rule (Ethics of Reciprocity) Themes

Key: Numbers for Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are in parentheses; numbers of Articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child are outside parentheses.

  • Adequate Standard of Living: 27 (25)

  • Association: 15 (20)

  • Association: 15 (20)

  • Best Interests of Person: 3, 21 (3)

  • Culture: 30 (22)

  • Duty to Contribute: (29)

  • Evolving Capacity: 5, 12, 14

  • Fairness/Nondiscrimination: 2 (2)

  • Freedom of Movement: 10 (13)

  • Full Development – Education: 6, 17, 27, 28, 29, 32 (26)

  • Government Support: 4, 18 (21)

  • Health and Rehabilitation: 24, 25, 39

  • Help in Need: 23, 25 (22, 25)

  • Identity: 1, 7, 8 (6, 15)

  • Information: 17 (19)

  • Participation in Government: (21)

  • Play, Leisure, Recreation: 31 (24, 27)

  • Privacy: 16 (23)

  • Property: (17)

  • Protection in Justice Systems: 40 (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14)

  • Religion, Thought, Conscience: 14, 17, 27, 32 (18, 19)

  • Safety/Protection: 11, 19, 20, 22, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 (4, 5)

  • Social Support – Family: 5, 7, 9, 10, 18, 19, 21 (14, 16)

  • Survival: 6

  • Voice in Affairs: 12, 13

  • Well-Being: 3.2, 9.4 17, 27, 32, 40 (27)

  • Work: 32 (23, 27)

Appendix B: Summative Indicator Examples for Selected Articles and Themes of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Theme

Article(s)

Indicatora

Child development and Well-being

6, 27, 29

Does the school curriculum provide specific support for holistic development and well-being (i.e., physical, mental, social, spiritual, moral) for all students at every age/grade level? (Ps)

Protection

19, 33, 34, 35, 36

Are all adolescent students given hands-on guided child care education which includes emphasis to child maltreatment prevention? (Po)

Civil rights

12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

A survey of the opinions of the children of the school community finds that a majority indicate their views/voices are heard and respected and influence conditions of concern. (O)

Work

32

Does the school community monitor nonschool work to determine and advance its relevance and contributions to the development and education of each student? (Po)

Leisure, recreation, and culture

31

Children are involved in organized and/or free play/recreation periods of 30 minutes or more during each school day. (Po)

Children with disabilities

23

Children with disabilities show measurable gains in functional independence. (O)

Health and rehabilitation

24, 25, 39

The school community has a detailed and widely publicized statement of commitment to holistic health and well-being. (S)

Parental support and guidance

5

A majority of parents surveyed report that they are active and respected partners with educators in the school community. (pO)

  1. a Primary and secondary accountability categories of the OHCHR under which the indicator falls are suggested by capital and lowercase beginning letters of structure (Ss), process (Pp), and outcomes (Oo)

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Hart, S.N., Hart, B.W. (2020). Child Rights and School Psychology: A Context of Meaning. In: Nastasi, B.K., Hart, S.N., Naser, S.C. (eds) International Handbook on Child Rights and School Psychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37119-7_1

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