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HUMAN RIGHTS Writing for our rights


As the deadline approaches to enter the 2012 Young Human


Rights Reporter of the Year, Victoria Najafi talks about her experience of the 2011 awards, which saw one of her year 9 students produce an astounding piece of writing and win a national award


A


S A modern foreign languages teacher, teaching human rights is certainly not my everyday topic in the classroom. however, I was enthusiastic to embrace the challenge of teaching such a topic alongside the perfect tense with


être and der Dativ. I then questioned whether such an opportunity should


be limited to my classes or whether this opportunity should be given to the whole school. As I watched harrowing images of human rights issues across the world on the daily news, I decided without a shadow of a doubt to embrace the challenge of teaching approximately 1,500 students the importance of human rights.


Independent thinking The perfect student


The recenT holiday has allowed some time for reflection and the new year has encouraged me to review the things which really matter. The debate about the integrity and reliability of the


school examinations system has rumbled on, but that prompted me to focus on all the other things which young people should gain from their education. If you could describe the ideal student


emerging from your school, leaving aside any academic or vocational certificates, what characteristics would you like them to have developed? My list would be something like this. Young people should leave school


ready to be independent and to take responsibility for themselves and their actions. They need self-knowledge, self-


confidence and self-control. Ideally, they should have learned to like themselves, although this can take many years to achieve fully. My perfect student would be honest


and would have the highest integrity, including intellectual integrity (they would not be paying someone else to complete their work assignments in later life or passing off other people’s ideas as their own). They would be tolerant of others,


showing empathy and understanding, but prepared to speak out or act when something wrong is said or done. They would show great care and


concern for others and kindness and generosity of spirit: they would understand the power of encouragement, support and praise and the destructive nature of unkindness and thoughtless criticism. courtesy and respect, in the traditional sense, would be second nature to them. Their self-knowledge would bring resilience, as


they would be able to admit to any failures and move on from them. This ability to deal with shortcomings and to speak out means that they would also have courage. They would be ready to use their courage to


take risks and to get involved, raising their heads above the parapet if by doing so they could make


a difference for the better of others. They would persevere and not be easily discouraged. One also hopes that their teachers would have


lit the proverbial fires and that these students would have a genuine love of learning and a passion for something. They would have an open-mindedness and curiosity which would keep them learning throughout their lives. Add to this a genuine sense of fun, an ability to laugh at themselves and with others, a large measure of patience, and a boundless supply of common sense and we perhaps have a fairly decent human being. Obviously, as I have often


written, schools cannot take the entire responsibility for how young people develop; we see them for only a relatively small portion of their lives and friends and family are very strong influences, not


to mention the media and “celebrities”. So, while trying to deliver the


examination syllabuses and the ever- expanding national curriculum, how can we manage to instil any of the above characteristics or virtues in our students? One answer is through “modelling”, by demonstrating these characteristics, or at least some of them, we ourselves can provide examples of what a decent human being is like. We can also reinforce these characteristics in our


students through praise and encouragement and not accepting behaviours which are


contrary to them. It is not always easy to model such


characteristics when you yourself are under pressure, stressed and feeling unappreciated. Teachers need to be valued and encouraged; they are a precious resource who can be a very positive influence on the young. could our political masters note that among their new year resolutions?


• Marion Gibbs is headmistress of the independent James Allen’s Girls’ School in London. Independent thinking returns in two weeks.


Powerful: Angus Kirk, 14, won one of only four national awards in the 2011 Young Human Rights Reporter of the Year Awards for his poignant piece on child soldiers (below)


The key was in my additional role as head of student


voice and enrichment at The King edward VI School in Morpeth, a field in which I am proud to say we


have been acknowledged via an array of national and international awards. I am incredibly passionate about giving young


people a voice, which has certainly contributed to the development of our school curriculum, extra-curricular and enrichment programmes, feeder school transition, as well as national agenda issues such as sustainability and healthy school status. I was keen to ensure that every student was informed


of the opportunity to enter Amnesty International’s Younghumanrightsreporter of the Year competition, and I advertised this opportunity to the entire student body. I was certainly not prepared for the response from


year 9 student Angus Kirk, 14. I can only describe the moment following the reading of his piece on child soldiers as “mind-blowing”. The piece was so vividly written that even now whenever I watch a news item relating to child soldiers I feel that I can actually see the boy in Angus’s piece. It came as no surprise when we found out that Angus had made the shortlist for the grand finals. The prize day in London was a fantastic experience,


waking up at 5am in rural northumberland to head to newcastle Airport, followed by our journey in to the capital, the first visit to London by Angus, his younger brother, his mum and two best friends. It was a real privilege for everybody to enter the


hQ of The Guardian (the competition is supported by the Guardian Teacher network and SecEd) and for the students to be given the opportunity to actually make


their own front page was an amazing experience. As a teacher it was also an exciting opportunity to meet fellow teachers and discuss our own experiences of the competition. We were then


whisked off to Amnesty International, again a real once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’m sure none of us will forget the moment we heard a professional television


actor read extracts of Angus’s piece aloud (you could literally have heard a pin drop), and then came the roar of applause as Angus was announced as the winner. Words cannot express what the competition has


meant to Angus, his family, friends, and indeed the school. It has not only led to the launch of our own Amnesty International Society but also attracted a wealth of journalistic talent from a range of high schools in northumberland to contribute to our student-led publication Student Review which won the category of “Best School newspaper” in the our regional Journal School Awards in the north east last year. Angus’s piece also featured in our school column


in the local newspaper, and many members of the community have commented on his work and requested to read more examples of our students’ work. This year I have also been the given the opportunity


to teach our school citizenship course, containing a wealth of topics including diversity and respect. I remember being shocked after hearing a 14-year-


old child ask “who was Ann Frank?” and the lack of awareness of even the history of human rights issues. I recognised the desperate need in education for opportunities to enable young people to explore such fundamental issues. The opportunity I gave to our students did not


take any curriculum time and now the school is fortunate to have a course for young people as part of our curriculum that does facilitate a degree of flexibility. It is certainly something I have embedded in to my classes this year, including the teaching of Ann Frank, Martin Luther King, and working closely with our history department to plan holocaust Memorial Day later this month. If the opportunities you offer even just influence one


child, you have the ability to change a life – and I think that Angus will be one who changes many more. SecEd


• Victoria Najafi is student voice, leadership and enrichment co-ordinator at The King Edward VI School in Morpeth.


How to Enter


The Amnesty International Young human rights reporter of the Year (supported by Guardian Teacher network and SecEd) is open for entries across four age categories from early primary to sixth form. Students can write about their own experiences (bullying, what it is like to be a refugee) or their take on an existing human rights issue (the death penalty, laws about smacking children). A successful article will contain a balance of factual information and the feelings and opinions of the writer. All entries must be submitted before January 31 and


must be submitted online via the Amnesty competition website: www.amnesty.org.uk/youngreporter


Angus Kirk Young Human Rights Reporter of the Year: Lower Secondary Winner 2011


He wears a baggy, ill-fitting uniform. He strains under the weight of an AK47 assault rifle, his gaunt face and wide, innocent eyes are etched with the pain and grief at the suffering he has had to endure and enforce. He bears both physical and mental scars. His age? A mere six-years-old. Dubbed “an illegal and morally reprehensible practice”, life as a child soldier is a savage


and brutal prospect. It’s a deadly tactic used all over the world because ethics would forbid an adult from attacking a child. Many children face simple labour, but many tackle the dirty work – planting roadside


bombs, fighting and becoming human shields. Almost all will suffer sexual abuse. An unlucky minority will endure the most gruesome


mental scarring: the Taliban released a video in April 2010 showing gunmen forcing a young boy to behead an adult accused of anti-Taliban activity. It has a terrible effect. An ex-soldier describes his experience: “Being new, I couldn’t perform the very difficult


exercises properly and so I was beaten every morning. Two of my friends in the camp died because of the beatings. The soldiers buried them in the latrines. I am still thinking of them.” This quote allows you to partially comprehend the unimaginable brutality of life as a


child soldier. This appalling tactic is still being used all over the world; however, a child soldier charity is disarming, demobilising and reintegrating soldiers. Maybe, just maybe we can beat underage military recruitment.


SecEd • January 12 2012


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