United Nations Standards and Chinese Approach for Human Rights Education in Primary and Secondary Schools

PENG Yu*

Abstract: Human rights education in primary and secondary schools is the initial and crucial phase of human rights education. Based on the normative documents formulated by the United Nations for human rights education during this phase, this paper constructs the United Nations standards for human rights education in primary and secondary schools, which include four major aspects: educational content, educational methods, reference mechanisms, and human rights concepts. They correspond respectively to the core connotations, practical pathways, institutional protections, and spiritual pursuits of human rights education in primary and secondary schools. On the basis of critically reflecting on these standards, and in reference to the United Nations standards and in accordance with China’s actual conditions, this paper proposes the “Chinese Approach” for human rights education in primary and secondary schools: first, in terms of legislation, clear legal basis should be provided; second, in terms of administration, clear goals and action guidelines should be provided; third, in terms of resource guarantee, sufficient resource support should be provided; fourth, in terms of curriculum design, it should be suitable for Chinese primary and secondary school students; fifth, in terms of evaluation mechanism, a variety of evaluation mechanisms should be constructed.

Keywords: human rights education in primary and secondary schools · united nations standards · Chinese approach · human rights concepts