Together is an alliance of Scottish children’s charities that works to improve the awareness, understanding and implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
Category Archives: POLICY / GUIDANCE
Learning for Sustainability
A One Planet Schools working group, chaired by Professor Peter Higgins from the University of Edinburgh, was established to provide strategic advice and direction to support the implementation of the manifesto commitment which states that:
“We welcome proposals for the creation of One Planet schools, and will look at ways of developing this concept. This will include action to continue the development of professional standards around sustainability education and leadership within our schools on environmental issues”.Learning for Sustainability – the report of the One Planet Schools Working Group, was published on 17 December 2012. Learning for Sustainability has been defined by the Group as:
A whole school approach that enables the school and its wider community to build the values, attitudes, knowledge, skills and confidence needed to develop practices and take decisions which are compatible with a sustainable and equitable society”.
Scotland has a distinguished history and international reputation recognised by UNESCO and others for sustainable development education, global citizenship and outdoor learning, which are firmly embedded within Curriculum for Excellence. Learning for sustainability encompasses all of these themes and approaches and sets out recommendations to build on successful practice in Scotland. The approach being recommended complements the General Teaching Council Scotland’s new Professional Standards which affirm the importance of values and learning for sustainability.
Visit the SG One Planet Schools page.
Do The Right Thing
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child provides the principles and values to which we all should aspire. In 2009 we published ‘Do the Right Thing’ – our response to the 2008 concluding observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
This was a clear commitment by the Scottish Government to account for actions to further promote children’s rights. This document reports on the significant progress we have made since then and we will continue to demonstrate the importance we place on rights through future similar reports.
UNCRC: The foundation of Getting It Right For Every Child
Scottish Ministers are committed to promoting the GIRFEC approach and way of working. Legislation is proposed for introduction to parliament this year to ensure that the key elements of the approach have a statutory foundation. The attached paper has been produced with the aim of helping to understand better the relationship with UNCRC and how the application of GIRFEC will progress respect for the rights of each individual child and young person across Scotland.We want children and young people to experience public services that place them at the centre of what they do. Scotland has a proud track record in promoting
the welfare of children and young people. The establishment and development of the children’s hearings system is a clear testimony to that. Extending the new way of working across all services and for all children and young people with a focus on improving wellbeing takes that commitment– and challenges – to a new level. Achieving such change will take time but we have taken some of the first big steps on the journey.
PWNW – Measuring Children and Young People’s Participation
The National Children and Young People’s Participation Standards for Wales have been developed to improve the process of children and young people’s participation in decision-making. The Participation Standards measure the ‘quality’ of the process of children and young people’s participation against key agreed indicators.
In addition to measuring the process, it is important to assess the outcomes and the changes that have occurred as a result of children or young people’s participation.
Visit the PWNW Standards website.
Continue reading PWNW – Measuring Children and Young People’s Participation
UNCRC
In 1989, the world’s leaders officially recognised the human rights of all children and young people under 18 by signing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The Convention is the basis of all UNICEF’s work. UNICEF is the only organisation working for children recognised by the Convention.
The Convention says that every child has:
- The right to a childhood (including protection from harm)
- The right to be educated (including all girls and boys completing primary school)
- The right to be healthy (including having clean water, nutritious food and medical care)
- The right to be treated fairly (including changing laws and practices that are unfair on children)
- The right to be heard (including considering children’s views)
