Children's Rights

SELB has now become the Centre for Inclusive Education (C4IE).

For all enquiries, please visit research.qut.edu.au/c4ie

Education is a fundamental human right which also facilitates access to other rights and aids personal development. The right of each student to an education is directly relevant to education practice and policy, however significant confusion exists about children’s rights and particular rights are often given priority over others.

This is problematic, as human rights principles assert that rights are indivisible, interconnected, interrelated, universal, interdependent, and equal. Considering certain rights to be ‘more important’ than others in different contexts and for different children may lead to practices that are rights-restricting as opposed to rights-enabling.

Researchers in the SELB Children’s Rights strand focus on research that critically considers and explores the tensions present in the education rights discourse and showcases rights-inclusive and rights-respecting examples relevant to a child’s education, particularly their engagement, learning, behaviour, participation, voice and wellbeing.

Current Projects

Recent publications

Voice Inclusive Practice: A charter for authentic student engagement

Sargeant, Jonathon, Gillett-Swan, Jenna (2019) Voice Inclusive Practice (VIP): A charter for authentic student engagement International Journal of Children's Rights, 27 (1), pp.122-139.
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A critical realist reflection on the use of social media as third space for rights education in early childhood

Zanatta, Francesca, Martinez Sainz, Gabriela, Gillett-Swan, Jenna (2019) A critical realist reflection on the use of social media as third space for rights education in early childhood International Journal of Early Childhood, 51 (3), pp.319-333.
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The human rights of children with communication needs in school

Aoife L. Gallagher, Haley Tancredi & Linda J. Graham (2017) Advancing the human rights of children with communication needs in school. Taylor & Francis.

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Children's rights, educational research and the UNCRC

Gillett-Swan, Jenna, Coppock, Vicki (2016) Children's rights, educational research and the UNCRC: past, present and future

Children’s Rights strand leader