|
|
|
ISPA
Cross-National Research Project on the Perspectives on Children and
Adults about the Status of Children’s Rights
Relevance
for Children’s Rights
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child requires
regular periodic monitoring and reporting on children’s rights
conditions. It also mandates that the views of the child be respected
in areas affecting the child. Therefore, the Convention provides a
strong impetus for assuring that the views of children are solicited
and considered in monitoring and reporting processes. The evolving
cross-national children’s rights research program described here
is intended to provide a basic core of information to fulfill these
responsibilities.
Introduction
The International School Psychology Association, in cooperation with
the Office for the Study of the Psychological Rights of the Child
(School of Education of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis),
is conducting an ongoing program of cross-national research to determine
the perspectives of children and major child caretakers regarding
the existing and desired status of children’s rights in homes
and schools. The findings of this project are intended to inform international
and national policy makers, child professionals, child advocates,
and the public of needs and opportunities to advance the quality of
life and development of children and guide goal setting, standards,
strategies, practices and monitoring to achieve improvements.
Nearly 10 years
of pilot work on this project across 23 countries has been accomplished
to date. Available knowledge on this pilot work has stimulated sufficient
interest and respect in the envisioned project for it to be designed
and implemented in a manner supporting its eventual establishment
as a regular pattern of research in most if not all nations. The nearly
universal adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights
of the Child and its monitoring and reporting requirements have provided
a significant impetus for this project.
Nature
of Project
The major purpose of the research is to develop and implement a scientifically
sound system to gather the opinions of children and significant adults
about the value of and support given children’s rights in homes
and schools so that:
- Discrepancies
between desired and existing conditions can be identified and their
significance determined.
- Comparisons
can be made across issues, national and international groupings,
and over time.
- Community,
national and international resources can be organized and applied
to plan, execute, and monitor programs to improve children’s
rights conditions.
To explore the
potential for accomplishing these purposes, a pilot program of cross-national
research on the opinions of 12-14 year old students about children’s
rights has been conducted during the last 10 years by research teams
in 23 nations:
| Australia |
Belgium |
Brazil |
| China |
Czech
Republic |
Denmark |
| France |
Hungary |
Iceland |
| India |
Iran |
Italy |
| Lithuania |
Poland |
Portugal |
| Slovakia |
Slovenia |
Thailand |
| Turkey |
Russia |
UK |
| USA |
Venezuela |
|
Additionally,
the opinions of teachers on the rights of this age group have been
gathered in 13 of these countries. This has been survey research directly
gathering the subjective opinions of children and adults, providing
results which can guide as well as supplement other systems of data
gathering including documented commitments (e.g., laws and regulations);
statistics on allocations of resources, practices, and child development
experiences and outcomes; and clinical anecdotal information.
The 40 item questionnaire
used in the pilot covered major themes of the United Nations Convention
on the Rights of the Child (i.e., survival, protection, development
and participation) and goes beyond them in some areas. The pilot stage
of this research has been supported by the International School Psychology
Association, by the project’s coordinating center, the Office
for the Study of the Psychological Rights of the Child (School of
Education, Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis),
and by the involved research teams. Government funding has been provided
in some countries (e.g., Belgium, Iceland, Lithuania, and Slovenia).
The co-principal investigators guiding the project have been Stuart
Hart (Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis), Zoran
Pavlovic (Institute for Criminology, Ljubljana, Slovenia) and Moshe
Zeidner (University of Haifa, Israel).
Results
of the Pilot Stage
The pilot stage of this project has established its practicality and
shown its potential as an informational and programming tool as indicated
by the following findings:
- There is genuine
interest in research on the children’s rights perspectives
of children and adults who work with them [the UN Convention on
the Rights of the Child requires children be informed and their
views be considered]. Advocates and researchers in additional countries
wish to join the project and most of those previously involved wish
to continue to the next stage.
- A research
instrument on children’s rights can be developed in a manner
respectful of and useful in widely different cultures [established
through cooperative item selection, translations and back-translations,
and validated by perceived salience of results in participating
countries].
- Data can be
gathered from children in an efficient and practical manner from
student populations [schools, students and teachers have been readily
accessible and the approximately 30-45 minute administration time
has not been found to be disruptive, but rather to elicit increased
interest in children’s rights].
- Findings reveal
significant and important differences in the perspectives and, therefore
quite possibly, the living conditions of children within and across
countries:
- Gender and
socio-economic related response differences have been found in
and across countries.
- The rated
existence level of rights generally has been found to be below
the rated importance level of rights.
- Schools are
generally considered by students to do a poorer job of supporting
rights than homes do.
- For some
critical protection and participation rights no existence or existence
to only a small degree has been indicated by large percentages
of students; even in quite developed countries.
- Some rights,
such as the right to play and imagination, have been rated to
exist at very low levels.
- A variety of
publics (scholars, child advocates, non-governmental and governmental
leadership) are interested in the perspectives of children obtained
in this manner [governments of Belgium, Iceland, Lithuania and Slovenia
have provided financial support for the project; the Danish government
has requested a report on findings and the results from Slovenia
have been published as a chapter in UNICEF’s report on the
status of Slovenian children and in Slovenia’s country report
to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child].
Numerous presentations
on the project have been invited by scientific and advocacy societies;
a journal article and 3 book chapters have been invited and published
on early findings of the research and an entire journal edition has
been offered for the next series of articles].
Plans
and Activities for the First Major Stage of the Project
Basic
Assumptions
- It is of fundamental
importance that advances in children’s rights be based in part
on the views of children themselves about the importance of issues
and the status of related conditions that affect them.
- The opinions
of children should be supplemented by the opinions of adults who
are expected to understand and directly support child development.
- For information
on the views of children to be truly useful, it must be acquired
through a scientifically sound system which enables reliable and
valid comparisons and judgments to be made within and across countries
and across time.
- Information
gained can and will be useful to governmental and non-governmental
interests to determine the status of realizing their children’s
rights commitments, and to plan and execute strategies to achieve
needed children’s rights advances.
Project
Design Essentials
The first major stage of this project is applying a design of refined
questions, scales, and data gathering procedures developed to respect
what has been learned in the pilot stage. New instruments (i.e., 34-item
child questionnaire, and 36 item adult questionnaire) have been constructed
which will more efficiently and effectively acquire desired information.
The project design has been expanded in numerous ways.
- The number
of countries will be increased to assure sampling occurs in each
major region of the world, including Africa; Asia; Eastern and Western
Europe; Central, South and North America.
- Data will be
gathered from three age ranges of children and youth (e.g., ages
8-10, 12-14, and 16-18), and from teachers, parents, school counselors
and/or psychologists, and school administrators. Preliminary work
with the new instrument in Lithuania (approximately 1500 children)
and Slovenia (approximately 200 children plus their parents) has
shown the new instrument to be efficient and effective across the
three child age groups and with parents.
- Appropriate
non-governmental and governmental agencies and organizations at
the community and national level will be involved in the project
to help carry out the research, to determine the meaning of findings,
and to apply findings to plan and act to improve conditions for
children.
Expectations
Set for Project Teams in Participating Countries
- Credible teams
will be organized to plan and carry out the research and to assure
research results are incorporated in determining and reporting the
status of children’s rights and in planning and executing plans
for improving the conditions of children. These teams will be composed
of research specialists and cooperating governmental and non-governmental
children's services and advocacy leaders. The teams will oversee
and coordinate the research process, including making any necessary
additions to the instrument to respect issues of particular significance
to the nation, and will convene one or more meetings of national
governmental and non-governmental organizations to review and apply
findings in plans for advancing children's rights.
- Proper samples
of schools (and out of school children) will occur to assure the
structure of the sample represents the country’s community
types and socio-economic status proportions, appropriate numbers
for selected child age groups of each gender, and critical majority-minority
status conditions (e.g., ethnic, religious, racial).
- The research
will be conducted every five years during periods approximately
1 to 1 ½ years prior to the due dates of their nation’s report
to the Committee on the Rights of the Child to maximize its utility
nationally and internationally for status and trend reports to the
nation and the international Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Closing
Comments
A comprehensive, systematic, and credible system of
gathering and applying the views of children and the influential adults
in their lives about the status of children’s rights is needed
for monitoring, reporting and planning to advance children’s
rights. A basic or core system for achieving this goal has been piloted
successfully in 23 countries and has been refined in readiness for
regular periodic application throughout the world. Many countries
have research teams poised to participate in this project and numerous
international and national agencies are likely to be supportive of
it once it is established. The International School Psychology Association
invites all interested governmental and non-governmental agencies
to encourage and cooperate in this program of necessary and practical
research.
Basic
References
Hart, S. N., Pavlovic, Z., & Zeidner, M. (1998).
Cross-national research on children’s rights. In E. Verhellen
(Ed.) Understanding children’s rights: Collected papers
presented at the second International Interdisciplinary Course on
Children’s Rights. (pp. 76-96) Ghent, Belgium: The Children’s
Rights Centre, University of Ghent. (This source contains references
to earlier publications on this project.)
School
Psychology International, during 2000 and 2001, will present
a series of articles on this research, including an international
overview and the experiences and findings for specific countries.
Project
Coordination
The project is coordinated by Stuart Hart (Office for
the Study of the Psychological Rights of the Child (OSPRC, Indiana
University-Purdue University Indianapolis; and Chair of the ISPA Children’s
Rights Committee). The co-principal investigators are Zoran Pavlovic
(Institute of Criminology, School of Law; Ljubljana, Slovenia) and
Moshe Zeidner (School of Education, University of Haifa, Israel).
| |
Call for Involvement
in Children’s Rights Collaboration and Initiatives
The
International School Psychology Association is strongly committed
to improve the quality of life and development of children.
To serve this purpose, ISPA has made the human rights of children
one of its highest priorities during the last decade in its
international work and will continue to maintain this emphasis
in the best interests of children and all societies. To fulfill
this commitment ISPA has initiated and joined international
projects and collaborative work which have benefited children
or hold genuine promise to do so. Many of these projects and
relationships would be significantly strengthened through
the involvement of school psychology at the national level.
We have
been charged by the Executive Committee of ISPA to request
that all ISPA National Affiliate organizations carry out direct
and timely action to take part in the projects which are identified
and briefly described below. Furthermore, We take this opportunity
to expand the expectations for school psychology in this area
and to encourage all national school psychology organizations
and leaders to become integrally and supportively involved
in these projects and activities to advance the human rights
of children.
National Children’s Rights Coalitions
Many nations, over 40 at the last count, have
coalitions of non-governmental organizations which have joined
together to monitor, report on and work to advance children’s
rights standards and conditions. Existing coalitions should
all have school psychology organizations and individuals as
their members and supporters. Where such coalitions do not
exist, school psychology should be in the forefront of those
taking initiative to form and activate national coalitions.
Information about existing national coalitions and about their
nature, development and functioning can be acquired from Denise
Allen, Liaison Officer (monitoring), NGO Group for the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, c/o Defence for Children International,
Case Postale 88, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland, telephone (41-22)
740 4730, telefax (41-22) 740 1145, Email: dallen@pingnet.ch.
Information on national coalitions will soon be available
on the web site of the Children’s Rights Information
Network (www.crin.org) through
the cooperation of the NGO Group for the Convention on the
Rights of the Child and CRIN.
Experimental
Reporting System for the Status of Education
Research on reporting to the UN Committee on the Rights of
the Child about the status of and progress toward fulfilling
the education standards of the Convention on the Rights of
the Child has shown rather disappointing results. A majority
of the reports by States Parties has been found to be inadequate
and/or to indicate that many of the Convention’s standards
are not being met (See Scherer, L., & Hart, S. N. [1999].
Reporting to the UN-Committee on the Rights of the Child –
analyses of the first 49 State Party Reports on the education
articles of the Convention and a proposition for an experimental
reporting system. International Journal of Children’s
Rights, 7, 4, 349-363). It appears that improvements
in the reporting structure and instrument may significantly
upgrade the quality and usefulness of information provided
by States Parties. This would help governmental and non-governmental
forces achieve a clearer sense of existing education conditions
and the steps needed to make desired improvements. ISPA is
cooperating with other organizations to develop, field test
and refine an Experimental Reporting System for Education.
In addition to ISPA, cooperating organizations include the
Education and Media Subgroup of the NGO Group for the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, the Office for the Study of the
Psychological Rights of the Child (Indiana University-Purdue
University at Indianapolis) and the Institute of Psychopathology
of Children and Youth (University of Zurich). A prototype
for the Experimental Reporting structure and instrument has
already been successfully field tested by the Danish Ministry
of Education and found to be efficient and effective. A program
of field testing a more refined form of the instrument is
now underway and will be strengthened by participation of
appropriate groups in as many nations as possible. The results
from using this experimental Instrument can applied to educational
planning within participating nations and to international
planning to improve reporting. The project’s leader,
Lukas Scherer, can be contacted at Bieneweg 22, CH-8302 Kloten,
Switzerland; telephone 41-1-814 11 57; Email: lscherer@dplanet.ch.
Additionally, an overview of the project, the experimental
instrument, and an invitation to participate in the project
can be found on the web site of Child Rights Education - International:
www.center.iupui.edu
ISPA Cross-National Children’s Rights
Research Project
For over 10 years, ISPA has supported a cross-national research
project to determine the perspectives of children and teachers,
and other significant adults, about the importance and existence
of children’s rights in homes and schools. Research teams
in 21 nations, usually led by school psychologists, have participated.
Results have been produced which clarify children’s rights
conditions, successes, problems and needs (School Psychology
International will soon present a series of articles about
this research). The research design and instrument have been
refined and readied for further application. The long range
plans for the research include surveying children and relevant
adults in each nation every five years and inclusion of findings
in reports within each nation and to the UN Committee on the
Rights of the Child. This program of research has the potential
to produce information very useful in understanding and improving
the conditions experienced by children. For information about
existing national research teams or about opportunities to
form a research team where needed, contact the coordinator
of this research, Stuart Hart, Office for the Study of the
Psychological Rights of the Child, School of Education, Indiana
University-Purdue University Indianapolis, 902 W. New York
St. Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-5155; telephone 317-274-6805,
telefax 317-274-6864, Email: snhart@iupui.edu.
An overview of this project can be found on the web site of
Child Rights Education-International: www.center.iupui.edu
2nd International Conference
on Children’s Rights in Education
A very successful first International Conference on Children’s
Rights in Education took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, in
April of 1998. ISPA cooperated with the Danish Ministry of
Education, the primary sponsor of the Conference, Education
International, the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights
of the Child, and the International Bureau of Education, in
preparing and presenting this Conference. An overview of the
Conference will be found in the journal of the International
Bureau of Education, Prospects, vol. 29, no. 2, June
1999. Forty-nine countries were represented at the first Conference.
The 2nd International Conference will take place
in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, 4-7 December, 2000. ISPA is cooperating
with the primary sponsor for the Conference, the Office of
the Ombudsman of Parana, and with Education International,
the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
and Child Rights Education-International in preparing and
presenting this Conference. Five major themes have been selected
for emphasis in the conference: alternative meanings and forms
of education, education and economic development, overcoming
violence through achieving a culture of peace, education and
media, and participation rights at all levels of education.
Particular attention will be given to education in emerging
nations. A four-day program of plenary and working group sessions
is being planned. Leadership in ministries of education, school
and educational psychology, professional education, child
advocacy and parent groups will participate. The Conference
and developments which flow from it will profit significantly
from the participation of school psychologists from many nations.
Make plans to have your nation represented.
Information and registration opportunities will be found on
the web site of Child Rights Education-International: www.center.iupui.edu
Child Rights Education-International
Child Rights Education-International is intended to produce
a comprehensive international program of children's rights
education, emphasizing use of distance learning, which will:
- be
a primary international system, resource and model for children's
rights education;
- support
development of competencies necessary to achieve effective
and responsible children's rights research /scholarship,
education, advocacy, policies, services, and practices within
and across disciplines and nations;
- serve
as the catalyst and coordinator for public discourse to
advance understanding and thinking on children's rights
issues;
- provide
organization and management of expandable and accessible
archival holdings on children's rights history, issues,
research, standards, and practices;
- provide
an international base of information, expertise and education
to interface with, complement and serve national efforts
to understand and advance children's rights; and
- make
maximum use of the existing developing communication technology
of distance and distribution education, including interactive
television via satellite and/or telephone link, internet
websites, digitalized video recordings, CD ROM, e-mail,
telefax, and radio.
ISPA,
as a cooperating organization for this project, will participate
in its development, help to make it available to school psychologists,
and work to produce systems for recognizing children’s
rights education completed by school psychologists. Education
International is also a cooperating organization for the project.
Child Rights Education-International is directed by a Steering
Committee of internationally recognized experts in children’s
rights. It is recommended that school psychologists become
familiar with the resource and consider incorporating it in
professional education in their nations. More information
can be acquired at the project’s web site: www.center.iupui.edu
Education
International
A review of the opportunities described above
will indicate that Education International (EI) has been mentioned
numerous times. EI is the international congress of teachers’
unions throughout the world and has over 30 million members.
Clearly ISPA and EI have many interests in common. Very good
cooperative relations have developed between the two organizations.
Cooperation between professional educators and school psychologists
serves children, their schools and communities, as well as
the two professions themselves. School psychology organizations
and school psychologists in all nations are encouraged to
develop good working relations, and cooperation in advancing
the human rights of children, with the national affiliates
of EI and their members. More information on EI and its national
affiliates will be found on EI’s web site (www.ei-ie.org).
Please
communicate with ISPA’s Children’s Rights Committee
if you have questions or if more information is desired (Stuart
Hart, tel. 317-274-6805, fax. 317-274-6864, email: snhart@iupui.edu)
|
|