Human Rights into Technical Curricula of Vocational Schools and Further Teacher Training of "Human Rights Ambassadors"

More than 50 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948 by the United Nations, the vision of a sustainable culture of Human Rights has still not been achieved. Human Rights violations remain a sad reality in most countries of the world. Schools and their teachers are currently facing a change of roles in society and exert a considerable influence on the shaping of attitudes and values for the 21^st century. The project aims at providing information and aids for teachers of vocational schools to integrate the idea of Human Rights into the technical curricula. In addition the project partners will develop a further training course for teachers of vocational schools to become "Human Rights Ambassadors" passing on their knowledge to their colleagues. The project is expected to yield the following outputs and materials:

• A "European Handbook of Human Rights Education" for vocational schools
• Example curricula and teaching units on the issue of Human Rights
• A curriculum for further training courses for "Human Rights Ambassadors"
• A minimum of 20 trained "Human Rights Ambassadors" per participating country.

Target Group

Technical teachers in European vocational schools

Focus of resarch

The partners will work in national teams on the evaluation and assessment of existing materials for Human Rights education and will compile ideas for example curricula, the "Handbook" as well as for the curriculum for further training of teachers to become "Human Rights Ambassadors". The findings and draft concepts will then be discussed and finalized in workshops of the Transnational Team. In order to enable the teachers to successfully impart complex contents on Human Rights issues in their technical instruction, the project will use the didactical principle of acting orientation. The "Handbook" and the further teacher training curricula will be developed along with the standards of this approach.

Innovation

The innovation of the project lies in the fact that technical teachers at vocational schools will be given the necessary information and training to impart Human Rights and to act as "Human Rights Ambassadors". Human Rights education is thus no longer confined to history or social sciences but will also permeate technical subjects.

Transnationality

The project encompasses four national teams in Germany, the UK, Spain, and Italy.