A Critical Realist Reflection on the Use of Social Media as Third Space for Rights Education in Early Childhood

The promotion and advancement of Rights Education in Early Childhood ought to be supported through the development of spaces that allow for interdisciplinary discourses among different stakeholders. The project #ChildRightsChat emerged from interactions between the authors to use a digital space to promote the advancement of an interdisciplinary and global discussion about children’s rights. A primary aim was to facilitate adult learning about the protection and promotion of children’s rights in practice. Chats in Twitter, through structured and moderated interactions, were designed to share knowledge and experiences around specific topics. The present paper presents the authors’ reflections, as moderators of #ChildRightsChat, through a critical realist analysis. The findings explore how social media can be understood as a learning environment in ‘third space’, with respect to the nature of interactions that occurred, the context as a learning space, and the voices heard in the chat. The implications of social media to include global perspectives for the advancement of rights-based practice in early childhood education and care are considered

Architectures of control in consumer product design

Copyright @ 2005 Social Services Research GroupThe idea of architectures of control is introduced through examples ranging from urban planning to digital rights management, and the intentions behind their use in consumer products are examined, with reference to case studies of printer cartridges and proposed 'optimum lifetime products.' The reactions of the technical community and consumers themselves are also explored, along with some wider implications for society

Inclusive education as a human right

This chapter explores the historical context that led to the development of inclusive education as a right of people with disability under international human-rights law. The authors trace the historical events that led to the emergence of human rights norms and institutions, the recognition of education as a means of realising other rights and achieving equality and social justice and the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as the formal expression of the human rights of people with disability and a legally binding treaty under international law. The chapter examines Article 24 of the CRPD which outlines the right to inclusive education, as well as General Comment No. 4, the interpretative guidance issued in 2016 by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that explains the requirements of Article 24 and distinguishes inclusive education from the practices of ‘segregation’, ‘integration’, and ‘exclusion’. Additionally, the Chapter highlights the right to education of First Nations people with disability and the interplay between their rights under the CRDP and their rights under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) as a national and linguistic minority to access culturally appropriate education in their own languages.</p

Students reimagining school libraries as spaces of learning and wellbeing

School libraries are one of the few indoor spaces in a school where students from many year levels can interact with one another and engage in formal and informal learning. As such school libraries have the potential to contribute to the wellbeing of students across the whole school community. In 2009, the Australian Federal government announced the BER (Building the Educational Revolution) economic stimulus package in response to the global financial crisis. This included $14 billion for schools to build or upgrade school libraries or multipurpose halls to become Primary schools for the 21st century. This chapter draws on the perspectives of 44 student participants from 7 schools across Queensland who took part in an evaluation of their BER library spaces. Students were interviewed about their lived experiences in these new or refurbished library spaces, and were asked to draw their imagined ideal library spaces. The students valued peacefulness, comfort, connectedness to the outside world through natural and technological links, and adventure. The chapter concludes with an overview of the interactive, learner centered, inclusive and flexible spaces that were identified by students as extending their learning opportunities, and contributing to their sense of wellbeing

Sociomaterial Dimensions of Early Literacy Learning Spaces: Moving Through Classrooms with Teacher and Children

Classroom spaces are complex social worlds where people interact in mul­tifaceted ways with spaces and materials. Classrooms are carefully designed agents for socialisation; however, the complexity and richness of learning experiences are partly determined by the teacher. This chapter draws from sociocultural perspectives to consider processes of thinking and learning as distributed and mediated across people and resources within the learning space. We argue that learning and well­being cannot be separated as students activate their social and emotional literacies when navigating the classroom environment. Drawing on data drawn from an ethno­graphic study of classrooms located in a community of high poverty, we critique how teachers describe their classroom spaces and selection of resources to facilitate their teaching of writing. We illustrate how geographies of place, movement and resources, interact with, and expand the social dimensions of classroom spaces