The presented speech proposal is a result of the research thatwas elaborated upon and tabled for a discussion as part of the ECER 2012 conference. In the study I have focused on diagnosing the level of exercising human rights in higher education, with special regard to first-generation human rights. The period of studies is crucial in the development of young people’s opinions and values. In this institution they learn how to work and treat others, especially those who are subordinate to them. The kind of experience students gain from this will influence their further work so it is extremely important to conduct the proposed research as it may increase higher education teachers’ and students’ awareness concerning this issue.

The subject matter of the research is the relation between the level of exercising human rights in higher education and students’ projections concerning the respect for those rights in the future pedagogical work. The essence of this problem is to diagnose the relation between higher education teachers’ respect for human rights and students’ experience regarding exercising the rights, and future teachers’ projections concerning respect for their future students/pupils.

The main issue of the research project is expressed in the following question: What is the relation between the level of respect for human rights in higher education and students’ experience of exercising them, and students’ projections concerning those rights in the future pedagogical work? A following hypothesis was formulated: the lower the level of respect for human rights in higher education and the more negative students’ experience in this matter, the more pejorative students’ projections concerning exercising human rights in the future pedagogical work will be.

The analysis of the gathered empirical material was set in the context of critical pedagogy. In particular, I referred to the assumptions of Henry A. Giroux’s and Paul Freire’s pedagogy. Jürgen Habermas’ concept of the public sphere was also used in the analysis. Higher education facility is a place where a public discourse sphere should be created and where the negotiation and construction of the meanings in force take place. The public sphere of higher education facilities is the germ of civil society in which all citizens have the right to express their opinions and argue against other people’s arguments. Such situation will be possible if human rights are respected in higher education facilities. It is of particular importance in the case of pedagogy students who will copy their experience regarding exercising human rights in their future professional work with pupils. Because of this fact, tackling the discussed subject matter is of extreme importance.

Amnesty International Report 2012; Freire P. (2000). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Trans. M. Bergman Ramos. New York, London: Continuum. Freire, P., Giroux, H.A. (2010). Edukacja, polityka i ideologia, w: Edukacja i sfera publiczna. Idee i doświadczenia pedagogiki radykalnej, red. H. A. Giroux, L. Witkowski, Kraków: Oficyna Wydawnicza „Impuls” . Giroux H. (1997). Pedagogy and the Politics of Hope. Theory, Culture and Schooling. A Critical Reader. Westview Press. Habermas J. (1999). The Theory of Communicative Action. Vol. I, II. Tibbits F. (2006). Universities and Human Rights Education: Mapping Growth and Opportunities Worldwide, http://www.hrea.org/index.php?base_id=300. Uitto, M. (2011). Humiliation, Unfairness and Laughter: Students Recall Power Relations with Teachers. Pedagogy, Culture & Society. Vol. 19/2; Winston, M. (2007). Human Rights as Moral Rebellion and Social Construction. Journal of Human Rights. Vol. 6/3