Network
NW 25. Research on Children's Rights in Education
Title
Controversial Topics in Children’s Rights and Education
Abstract
This special call invites contributions that explore controversial issues in the theory, practice, and politics of children’s rights in education. In today’s global “poly-crisis” (Morin et al., 1999), characterised by war, climate emergency, widening inequalities, and digital transitions, the field of children’s rights in education faces new challenges and controversies. Competing interpretations of children’s rights often reveal tensions between universalism and cultural pluralism, advocacy and critique, as well as between rights-informed policymaking and ideological agendas. The increasing polarization of the world further exacerbates these tensions. The special call encourages interdisciplinary contributions that question established assumptions and propose new research directions.
The Call
The ECER 2026 theme, “Knowing and Acting: The Changing Conditions and Potentials of Education Research,” highlights how the expanding range of knowledge-producing actors, data-driven technologies, and political, ideological, and economic circumstances are reshaping the ecosystem of educational research. It invites researchers to consider how to know and act creatively, critically, and meaningfully within conditions of constant flux. These changing conditions have a particular influence on the research field of children’s rights, which is grounded in international and national legal frameworks that often cannot keep pace with rapid societal transformations. Within this context, educational research about children’s rights plays a crucial role in identifying controversial topics, designing ways to explore them meaningfully and critically, and providing theoretical and practical insights that can guide policy and practice.
EERA Network 25: Research on Children’s Rights in Education invites contributions that explore controversial issues in the theory, practice, and politics of children’s rights in education. In today’s global “poly-crisis” (Morin et al., 1999), characterised by war, climate emergency, widening inequalities, and digital transitions, the field of children’s rights in education faces new challenges and controversies. Competing interpretations of children’s rights often reveal tensions between universalism and cultural pluralism, advocacy and critique, as well as between rights-informed policymaking and ideological agendas. As the field of children’s rights is deeply rooted in values and moral principles, the increasing polarization of the world further exacerbates these tensions.
This special call welcomes papers and symposia proposals that critically examine contemporary controversies in the field of children’s rights in education, including but not limited to:
- How do power and ideology shape what counts as valid knowledge about children’s rights in education, and who gets to produce it?
- In an age of misinformation and performative politics, what constitutes credible and responsible children’s rights scholarship?
- How do new AI technologies challenge children’s rights in education?
- Where is the boundary between critique, advocacy, and political action in the field of children’s rights in education?
- What are the responsibilities of researchers when children’s rights are invoked to legitimise or delegitimise contested educational policies and practices?
- What is the role of rights discourse in the face of cultural, religious, or political contestation in education?
- How do national education policies navigate (or sidestep) tensions between children’s rights and parental rights, especially in contested areas like sex education, religious instruction, or inclusive education?
- In what ways do rights-based approaches intersect with indigenous, decolonial, or community-based perspectives on education and childhood?
- How can researchers navigate ethical dilemmas when studying children’s rights in politically sensitive or repressive contexts?
- What ethical and methodological dilemmas arise when researching children’s rights in contexts of environmental risk, climate displacement, and future uncertainty? How do researchers navigate the tension between framing children as victims, agents, or witnesses of futures yet to come?
Network 25 encourages interdisciplinary approaches drawing on education, law, sociology, philosophy, political science, and digital studies. We particularly welcome contributions that challenge taken-for-granted assumptions and propose new theoretical or methodological directions for studying children’s rights in education.
Contact Person(s)
Chiara Carla Montà (University of Milano-Bicocca, chiara.monta(at)unimib.it), Co-Convenor of Network 25
Lotem Perry-Hazan (University of Haifa, lotem.perry(at)edu.haifa.ac.il), Co-Convenor of Network 25
References
Morin, E., Kern, A. B., Kelly, S. M., & LaPointe, R. (1999). Homeland earth: A manifesto for the new millenium. Hampton Press.