Human Rights Education in Different Contexts. A Book Review of \u3cem\u3eHuman Rights and Schooling: An Ethical Framework for Teaching for Social Justice\u3c/em\u3e

In her book, Human rights and schooling: An ethical framework for teaching for social justice, Audrey Osler covered design and implementation of human rights education (HRE) within local and global contexts, as well as for students ranging from childhood to university levels. One of the central themes that Osler developed throughout the book is a complex recognition of diversity while embracing solidarity in the name of social justice. Osler supported the development of her framework through examples from multiple contexts around the globe where HRE education has been implemented. These tangible illustrations from her experiences and research provided pictures of how narratives can be central to HRE and serve to strengthen alliances while recognizing diversity. The HRE framework that Osler provided gives support for school and community engagement towards engaging with social justice work. This is difficult work due to the prominence of dominant neoliberal discourses of standardization and accountability, but her book provides discourses of social justice that can transform schools and communities. Osler’s expertise in HRE and the range of her work make this book an important addition to HRE work

Understanding Conflict in Education for Democracy. A Response to The Value of Conflict and Disagreement in Democratic Teacher Education

Teachers are often apprehensive about facilitating deliberation in classrooms because conflicts can develop when deliberations surround issues of authentic concern to students. However, conflict is central to deliberation, and the identities and experiences of participants must be reflected in deliberation. These differences challenge the assumptions of neutrality and a common good that can restrain conflict. Harell’s article focuses upon many of these aspects of deliberation and the essential role of facilitators as conflicts emerge from deliberation. In my response to Harell, I extend his findings by developing the themes of conflict, identity, and inclusion. These themes are conceptually linked and can guide reflection before, during, and after deliberation. Finally, I discuss the implications for democratic education in general and teacher education in particular

Identifying soft democratic education: Uncovering the range of civic and cultural choices in instructional materials

Although student deliberation of public issues is recognized as a vital component of democratic education, little research focuses on the range of perspectives available to students during such deliberation. Social justice and legitimacy demand a wide range of inclusion, choices, and perspectives during student deliberation. This article contrasts soft versus deliberative democratic education, where the range of perspectives is correspondingly narrow or broad. Unfortunately, research shows that social studies textbooks promote soft democratic education by privileging dominant cultural representations, ideologies, and metanarratives of American exceptionality. This article presents content analysis as a method for identifying the range of civic and cultural perspectives in curricula. Once these perspectives are identified, social studies educators can revise curricula to increase inclusion and strengthen student deliberation. To illustrate this method, the author examines two sets of instructional materials. While on opposite opposite sides of the ideological spectrum, the sets are similar in their narrow range of perspectives concerning controversial public issues