Despite the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the interest in developing a theoretical grounding for children’s rights seems to be rather limited. This is as well the case for children’s rights in the field of education. The existing body of knowledge is characterized by narrowing the notion of education relative to children’ rights to an individual or inter-relational issue.

A different perspective on children’s rights and education comes from social pedagogy. Social pedagogy is a perspective on education with an orientation on the societal conditions (co-)constructing educational practices. The focus in this perspective is not only on the individual or the relation between people involved, but also on the social, historical, political and cultural ‘architecture’ underpinning education. It is about the relationship between individuals or groups on the one hand and the structure of society on the other hand.

After explaining the characteristics of a social pedagogical perspective on education and children’s rights, we will further go into a critical tradition within social pedagogy. A critical approach means that the underlying historical and socio-cultural structure of society is discussed starting from children’s rights based educational practices. The aim of critical reflection is to obtain insight in the underlying norms, values and logics that shape these practices, brining into discussion diverse interpretations that are given to the underlying logics of these practices, with the ambition to change these practices towards a greater respect for the human dignity of children. Through the presentation, reference will be made to the work of Klaus Mollenhauer and his view on social pedagogy as it was developed in his book “Vergessene Zusammenhänge. Über Kultur und Erziehung”. From Jurgen Habermas, the concepts of ‘lifeworld’ and ‘system’ will be borrowed to focus on the relationship between individual and  society.  

Mollenhauer, K. (1993) Vergeten samenhang. Over cultuur en opvoeding, 2nd edn. Amsterdam: Boom. Grunwald, K., & Thiersch, H. (2009). The concept of the ‘lifeworld orientation’ for social work and social care. Journal of Social Work Practice, 23(2), 131-146.