UNCRC stands for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. There are 54 articles in total that outline the rights children are entitled to. Rights are unconditional: All children everywhere in the world are entitled to rights, they do not have to be earned and they are not dependant on responsibilities – children have them regardless. A summary of the UNCRC articles can be found here
In 2019 the Deputy First Minister announced that the UNCRC would be incorporated into law in Scotland following a consultation period. In September 2021 the bill was presented to parliament and the bill passed its third stage on the 16th of March 2021 with unanimous cross-party support.
Whilst there is currently a delay due to the Supreme Court ruling, incorporation is still planned and the legislation requires all public bodies to embed the UNCRC in their policies and practice. Together Scotland provide updates on the ruling you can access here
To understand how we can best support educational settings with the incorporation, please complete this training and support needs form
There is a working group with representatives from each local authority developing tools and resources to support with the incorporation. Some resources have already been developed. You can access these resources by clicking the UNCRC Resources Toolkit button below:
It is important that education settings are prepared for this incorporation by understanding what it means and how it will affect practice. We have an important role to play as duty bearers of children’s rights and need to consider how we make links between the UNCRC and:
• our culture
• values and ethos
• skills and activities
• curricular programmes
• targeted support
Since GIRFEC came from UNCRC, many of the approaches we already use in educational settings will be rights based. However we still need to be aware of possible infringements and the implications of this.
