Human Rights Education in Canada: Results from a CTF Teacher Survey

Overview & Synopsis

The United Nations has placed a high priority on human rights education. Building on the foundation laid by the UN Decade for Human Rights Education (1995-2004), the UN General Assembly launched the World Programme for Human Rights Education in December 2004 "as a global initiative, structured in consecutive phases, to advance the implementation of human rights education in all sectors." The first phase of the programme (2005-2009) focused on integrating human rights education into elementary and secondary school systems. The second phase (2010-2014) focuses on integrating human rights education in the higher education system as well as training for civil servants, law enforcement officials and military personnel. As part of the Canadian Defenders for Human Rights initiative, the Canadian Teacher's Federation (CTF) conducted an online survey of teachers in February 2013 to obtain their perspectives on human rights education in Canadian schools. The survey sought out teachers' perspectives in the following areas: (1) The delivery of human rights education in the school--whether through curricular and/or extra-curricular activities; (2) Specific curriculum areas with a human rights education component; (3) School-based human rights education projects as an extension of the curriculum; (4) The value placed on human rights education by various stakeholders; (5) Availability of resources to support the teaching of human rights education (including examples of key resources); (6) Professional development related to human rights education; (7) Greatest success in relation to teaching a human rights issue; and (8) Greatest challenge facing human rights education in Canada. The survey was conducted online with almost 2,600 teachers in 8 of the 10 provinces and in all 3 territories from February 11 to March 1, 2013. The findings from the survey are presented in this document, along with key messages from the teacher voice of human rights education. (Contains 5 charts and a list of 6 sources.)