Evaluating Human Rights Training Activities: A Handbook for Human Rights Educators by EQUITAS - The International Centre for Human Rights Education and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), April 2011
This Handbook aims at strengthening the evaluation of human rights education/training (HRE) activities with a view to increasing their impact. It highlights relevant research and practice in educational evaluation and contains step-by-step guidance, including examples of tools and techniques, to integrate evaluation throughout the entire HRE process including design, delivery and follow-up. The Handbook is organized as follows:
Part 1 - Evaluating HRE: exploring the basics
It reviews the goals, content and process of HRE. Key concepts of educational evaluation are then introduced, as well as two models of educational evaluation that can guide human rights educators in incorporating evaluation into their HRE work.
Part 2 - Evaluating HRE: a step-by-step process
It outlines a five-step process for evaluating human rights training sessions for adult learners. This process, which includes training needs assessment, defining results, formative evaluation, end-of-training summative evaluation and impact and transfer evaluations, directly links the design of evaluation with the different phases of a training design cycle. Data analysis methods and techniques as well as different means of communicating results are also addressed.
Part 3 - Particular evaluation concerns
It looks at a number of important issues and questions that human rights educators will need to deal with when evaluating HRE activities and also provides some useful strategies for addressing them. Issues include the role of gender in evaluation, the effects of culture and language, evaluation of evaluations, and finding time and resources for evaluation.
Part 4 - Tools and techniques for evaluation in HRE
It presents a broad collection of practical tools and techniques, which can be easily adapted to suit particular needs, for the different types of evaluation - from training needs assessment to evaluating transfer and impact.
Part 5 - Useful resources for HRE evaluation
It contains a variety of resources consulted in the development of this Handbook, including print and electronic materials, and a list of relevant websites.
The Handbook, available in English, can be downloaded from the addresses:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/PublicationsResources/Pages/TrainingEducation.aspx and from
http://equitas.org/resources/human-rights-defenders-and-educators/evaluation
Human Rights Education at the Council of Europe
The Council of Europe’s Directorate of Youth and Sport works on human rights education with young people and children
Human Rights Education and Living, Learning, Acting for Human Rights.
The following key publications that are used throughout Europe are available online namely:
United Nations Resources
Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights
UN Human Rights Council
Human Rights Committee
General Assembly Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) Documents, press releases, related links.
UNESCO’s work on Human Rights Education
World Programme for Human Rights Education
WFUNA website
Commonwealth
The Commonwealth Secretariat
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative
Global Peace Index
149 nations of the world have been ranked by their peacefulness and the results have stimulated some very interesting analysis. Discover the thermal maps, and download the Results Report and the Discussion Paper from
Vision of Humanity.
See an article by Steve Killelea and Camilla Schippa on "The Metrics of Global Peace" which was published in the OECD Newsletter in 2011.
Australian Government initiatives in human rights education for schools have also included:
- the Civics and Citizenship program, which includes an annual national forum on civics and citizenship education for teachers, principals, pre-service educators, State and Territory officials, and parents,
- the introduction of a National Framework for Values Education in Australian Schools which emphasises values such as respect, responsibility and understanding, tolerance and inclusion, which help students appreciate their local, national, regional and global
- States and Territories have also undertaken a range of initiatives to promote human rights education in schools, for example:
States and Territories have also undertaken a range of initiatives to promote human rights education in schools, for example:
NSW has incorporated cross-curriculum content on the areas of Difference and Diversity, Gender, Multiculturalism, Civics and Citizenship and Indigenous issues in all new syllabuses of the Years 7-10 curriculum; incorporated human rights issues in a compulsory test in Australian History, Geography, and Civics and Citizenship set for Year 10 School Certificate candidates; and included the study of human rights in the syllabuses for Legal Studies, Aboriginal Studies and Modern History.
NSW Human Rights Education Committee (University of Sydney)
NSW Human Rights Education Committee |
Lesson Plans
Victoria has introduced the Good Ideas for Human Rights Education project, which documents and disseminates good practice in human rights education across the school sectors in Victoria, and established a Languages & Multicultural Education Resource Centre which provides professional development programs on anti-racism education, the needs of refugees and other groups of at risk students, and culturally inclusive curriculum.
Victorian Human Rights Education Committee | Lesson Plans
the ACT has implemented a trial scheme with Amnesty International to introduce Human Rights Education programs into high schools and primary schools, and introduced the School Excellence Initiative, which reviews ACT government schools on a three-yearly basis against criteria which include student involvement in active citizenship and a curriculum the promotes intercultural understanding and ethnic and gender diversity.
The Tasmanian Centre for Global Learning is a non-profit organisation which promotes an understanding of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Centre provides two websites with information and resources on human rights and social justice issues, A Fairer World and A Fairer World Youth. Their Global Citizen page provides teaching resources to support the Citizen of Humanity Project.
[Click to view]
In the Northern Territory there are a number of education practices which encapsulates Human Rights Education. These practices are premised on The NT Curriculum Framework (NTCF), Strong Beginnings and the National Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF).
The NTCF has Studies of Society and the Environment (SOSE) which has sections on Civics, Governance, Social Justice and Cultural Diversity and is taught throughout schooling. This subject also includes Indigenous Studies and Values Beliefs.
The EYLF is a National framework for small children birth to five years and its approach is socio-cultural with Belonging, Being and Becoming as overarching values. It states values of cultural competence and respect for cultural diversity. The EYLF is a framework and not a curriculum document but has a very strong sense of children’s rights and the rights of diverse communities and families.
The Strong Beginnings is a guide to Quality practice for three to five year olds.
The speech delivered by Julian Burnside Ao QC when launching the NT Human Rights Education Committee - April 2011
The Committee was established in 1999 by a group of committed and dedicated volunteers to actively pursue human rights education in Australia in response to the UN Decade on Human Rights Education. NCHRE is registered in Victoria under the Associations Incorporations Act 1981.
