Establishing a rights respecting initial teacher education course

At London Metropolitan University the secondary team (preparing teachers for 11-16 schools) has introduced a children’s rights theme running throughout the teacher education programme. This builds on UNICEF’s successful Rights Respecting Schools’ programme in the UK and aims to introduce all student teachers, across the subject range, to the principles and documents underpinning children’s rights. In this paper we share some of our reflections on the process of planning and implementing this programme from the perspectives of the programme director and the citizenship and science course leaders at the university and the NGOs who are supporting our work. We also draw on some preliminary feedback from the student teachers on their perception of children’s rights and the relevance to their teacher training