UN has pointed out education as the most important instrument to develop the rights of the child. In particular the content in policy and curriculum is seen as playing a vital role in guiding this development (UN, 2006). Also the educational processes and the environment in education are emphasised. Educational research has provided important knowledge about educational issues in children’s human rights but it is still much in its infancy (cf. I’Anson, 2014). Research reviews show that in particular responsibilities to respect children as holders of rights have been in focus for research (Quennerstedt, 2011). However, responsibilities to educate children for human rights are not a central line of enquiry.  This has not drawn much attention from researchers, even though the aim of education is addressed in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (article 29) and has been specifically highlighted by the UNCRC Committee (Thelander, 2009). Nor has questions about content or teaching and learning processes caught much interest (Brantefors & Quennerstedt, 2016). 

This paper is part of a project in which the role of education for children’s and young people’s development as rights holders is investigated. More specifically, the project examines how teaching and learning within early childhood education and school give possibilities or constrain children’s and young people’s growth as holders and practitioners of human rights. In this paper the specific focus is on eleven year old children. By examining on-going teaching and learning of children’s human rights the study seeks to answer the two questions: 1)What is the content in teaching and learning in, through and about children’s human rights?2) What are the possibilities or limitations to grow as right holders through this content?

The project draws theoretically on a combination of rights theory (Bobbio, 1996), sociology of childhood (James, Jenks & Prout 1998; James & James, 2004) and the educational philosophy and theorising of John Dewey (1916). First, rights for children are understood as included in the human rights, which means that human rights vocabulary is used to categorise and discuss rights. Second, the project views children as competent and knowledgeable persons with full human value and dignity in the present. Further, childhood is regarded as a political phenomenon included in societal power structures, which influences adults’ perceptions of and relations to children. Third, with inspiration from Dewey, education is regarded as a process of growth. The aim of education is with this view not to prepare the child for the future, instead educationis constant process of reconstruction and reorganisation of knowledge with the inherent being growth through reconstruction of experience(cf. Quennerstedt & Quennerstedt, 2014).

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