Robi Kroflic

1
Robi Kroflic

• RECOGNITION OF THE CHILD AS CAPABLE BEING THE
  FOUNDATION OF EDUCATION IN THE SPIRIT OF
  CHILDRENS RIGHTS

2
Aims of lecture

• to show why it is urgent to reach an educational
  approaches, that are based on well balanced
  support of all of three clusters of childrens
  rights (for protection, provision and
  participation)
• to prove, that especially for supporting
  childrens rights for participation, recognition
  of the child as pro-socially oriented and morally
  capable being is very important corrective of the
  concept of distributive justice
• to describe three contemporary approaches that
  promote an image of rich child and are
  therefore educational concept that are based on
  the logic of childrens rights pedagogy of
  listening in Reggio Emilia approach, inductive
  approach to moral education in To-Gather project,
  and use of art

3
How to understand inner logic of the Convention
on the rights of the children?

• Convention on the rights of the children is built
  on the concept of three clusters of childrens
  needs for protection, provision and
  participation
• So the accomplishment of the central goal of
  education in the spirit of childrens rights is
  strongly connected with searching for the balance
  between the protection and participation, and
  provision of stimulative educational environment

4
How to understand inner logic of the Convention
on the rights of the children?

• the very fact that we speak about special rights
  of children contains a FIRST DANGER, that we look
  at the children as simply more vulnerable beings
  than adult persons, which can lead to oppressive
  paternalism
• THE OPPOSITE DANGER is connected with too big
  emphasis on childrens freedom of choices, which
  leads to lack of the sense of belonging and
  safety and changes our tendency to freedom into
  the liberal pressure toward free choices as moral
  obligations of living in the consumers society

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How to understand inner logic of the Convention
on the rights of the children?

• we can conclude that for a healthy development
  children need a well balanced provision of all
  three clusters of rights, because both described
  threats (of oppressive paternalism and lack of
  ontological security) are a serious danger for
  their psychological stability and the development
  of identity.

6
My personal experience on the importance of this
warning

• An ethnographical note A change of a playing
  corner
• Since children no longer play with dolls, we
  decided that we will change the babies corner it
  into a beauty parlour. When I told them that
  (motivation to act), Saša reacted Leave the
  babies corner as it is, Marija plays there every
  day. She loves babies, she loves them so much
  shell have nine of her own when she grows up.
  (Marija is a handicapped child!) We left the nook
  as it was, and arranged a beauty parlour
  elsewhere.

7
My personal experience on the importance of this
warning

• I have to admit that it took me seven years of
  study to return to this peak experience with at
  least some sensible theoretical solutions. But
  what is more important, this ethnographical note
  has warn me that we should never treat a
  pre-school child as incapable, egoistic being who
  should be simply protected with formal rules and
  motivated to follow adults examples of noble
  moral acting. Saying in other words, it was a
  warning to treat children as subjects of moral
  decisions and legal rights!

8
Childrens rights and the question of justice in
education

• Rawls concept of distributive justice is the most
  known political concept, relevant also for the
  protection of childrens rights
• recognition of the child as socially and
  cognitively capable being is a kind of
  precondition for asserting of childrens rights
  for participation
• as Nancy Fraser stresses out, proper recognition
  of every person should be seen as the important
  extension of rawlsean concept of distributive
  justice

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How to understand recognition?

• Recognition becomes a crucial moral task of
  educator when we accept the hypothesis, that our
  identities are formed in dialogue with others, in
  agreement or struggle with their recognition of
  us
• But every form of recognition is not good for the
  development of the child, as well as every
  relation is not necessarily good, because
  domination is as relational as love.

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How to understand recognition?

• in education we can trace different modes of
  inappropriate recognition of the child and
  therefore also unjust educational practices
• cultural domination (being required to
  assimilate),
• nonrecognition (being rendered invisible),
• and disrespect (being routinely maligned).
• specially young children are very vulnerable for
  different modes of inappropriate recognition
  (historic images of the child - from childs
  invisibility (rejection of the child as different
  being as adult person) to our expectation that
  the child is born as incomplete being, sinful
  and egoistic being, irrational being )

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How to understand recognition?

• Mechanism of the projection causes that we are
  looking to the child through our subjective
  theories, so to assure a proper recognition of
  the child we need to stress out ethical and
  political consciousness of the educator
•   When we recognize another, or when we ask for
  recognition for ourselves, we are not asking for
  an Other to see us as we are, as we already are,
  as we have always been, as we were constituted
  prior the encounter itself. Instead, in the
  asking, in the petition, we have already become
  something new, since we are constituted by virtue
  of the address, a need and desire for the
  Other... It is also to stake one's own being and
  one's own persistence in one's own being, in the
  struggle for recognition.
• (Judith Buttler)

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How to understand recognition?

• two dimensions of recognition
• as a political request for just acceptance of
  ones social status,
• or as the ethical request for affirmation of
  individuals identity which is a necessary part
  of optimal educational encounter and human
  flourishing

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How to understand recognition?

• three different roles of recognition
• a concept that emphasize our commitment for
  personal confirmation of a child (recognition as
  confirmation Martin Buber),
• our willingness to reject oppressive modes of
  subjections (like looking at the child as
  incapable being Judith Buttler) ,
• and finally to accept the fact that recognition
  is ongoing reciprocal encounter (Jessica
  Benjamin)

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From different concepts of recognition we can
extrapolate further concrete duties of pedagogue

• To be treated in a spirit of childrens rights,
  child has a right to be accepted as the worthy
  being (recognition as confirmation)
• To enable childs potentials for active
  engagement in decision making we have to build an
  image of rich child that is possible to step into
  active relations with adult persons (recognition
  as rejection of oppressive modes of subjections)
• Pedagogical relation is reciprocal encounter so
  as we help the child in enabling him positive
  recognition, the child is also giving us the
  opportunity for growth of our personality and
  development of professional and personal
  identity.

15
Pedagogy of listening

• Among the goals of our approach is to reinforce
  each childs sense of identity through a
  recognition that comes from peers and adults, so
  much so that each one would feel enough sense of
  belonging and self-confidence to participate in
  activities of the school. (Loris Malaguzzi)
• Listening is a metaphor for openness to
  others... Listening therefore means giving value
  to the other (Carlina Rinaldi)

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• Listening to the child is not only important
  because of our right to speak and be heard but
  also because we can know ourselves that is our
  unconscious pre-judgments, prejudices and habits
  - only if we know others different of ourselves.
  So if we really want to spread the idea of
  education through the concept of childrens
  rights, we have to step further from political
  concept of rights to philosophical concepts of
  the development of humans mind.
• Listening is therefore the premise for any
  learning relationship, because in representing
  our theories, we re-cognize them, so
  understanding is generated through sharing and
  dialogue. The same phenomenon we can find in the
  process of artistic imagination

17
Inductive educational approach

• Thesis on special discipline approach that can be
  called inductive approach was first elaborated
  in late sixties by Martin Hoffman
• Hoffmans approach of empathy as a source of
  pro-social emotions enabled him to restore a
  thesis that empathy is the first source of moral
  competencies of the child in very early
  developmental period which can influence
  successfully further development of emotional,
  motivational and cognitive capacities for moral
  decision making and acting.

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• with this basic statement Hoffman confirmed
  Levinas thesis about the responsibility toward
  the Face of the other as pre-ethical condition of
  moral acting
• to speak about new educational concept/paradigm
  inductive method has to be widened to different
  types of activities and theoretically expanded
  with profound anthropological ideas. For this
  purpose I have spread the idea of inductive
  approach to Levinas concept of responsibility, M.
  Klein, S. Tood, N. Eisenberg and K. Kristjansson
  concepts of pro-social emotions and my own
  concept of self-limited authority of the teacher

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Three steps model of inductive educational
methodic

• The child is in his or her first years capable of
  relations of love and friendship, therefore
  pedagogy supporting those relationships enables
  the child to develop relational response-ability
  and normative agency for pro-social activities in
  a most authentic way.
• Because personal engaged relations may be as well
  harmful, the next important focus is to develop
  the sense of respect toward concrete persons or
  activities.
• Last step of moral education is to become aware
  of ethical principles and humanistic demands,
  especially concerning human rights and ecological
  values.

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• the proposed model should not be understood as a
  step model of classical linear development (like
  Kohlbergs model of the development of moral
  reasoning) because every phase of the model
  remains important for morality even when the next
  developmental step is reached
• the best way of using the inductive model of
  moral development is within an inclusive school
  environment and not only as an abstract learning
  of solving moral dilemmas in the classroom.

21
Role of art

• as we can speak about authentic relationships
  (like love and friendship) that provoke childs
  pro-social behavior, art (as one of the most
  authentic humans activities) can foster the same
  attitude with compassioned imagination
• art can be used in the processes of inductive
  approach in different roles, like
• a motivational tool for opening the senses for
  moral dilemmas,
• as a source of ethical knowledge
• and also as a kind of cross-over a medium for
  binding cultural and emotional gaps between
  children

22
What does this widened inductive approach to
moral education mean for education in the spirit
of childrens rights?

• it is the approach that is focused on all of
  three important dimensions of the process of
  recognition on confirmation of Other, on
  rejection of oppressive modes of subjections, and
  on acceptance of the fact that recognition is an
  ongoing reciprocal encounter
• with an emphasis on authentic relationships and
  activities we can enable a childs sense of
  security, but also his willingness to be an
  active subject of activities that help him/her to
  build his/her personal construction of meaningful
  knowledge
• with limiting our paternalistic tendencies to be
  the ultimate moral judges, we enable the space to
  the child to strengthen his pro-social
  motivation, but also social skills for being able
  to answer to the call of other person for help,
  or for improving the situation of moral conflict
  that was caused with his/her disrespectful act.

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• we promote opportunities for pro-social
  behaviour, for growing reflection of conflicts,
  and possibilities for common living on the basis
  of active tolerance, where empowerment of
  individual position of everyone and commitment to
  pro-social behaviour are the mill stones of our
  identity. We should stay inside the framework of
  human rights and enforce weaker should
  obligations to respect human rights to become
  stronger must moral imperatives.
• (Kroflic and Kratsborn 2006, Agora Dispute)
•  
• This project links the tiny little things
  inside myself with the great stuff.
• (Maria Peña, student from Lisbon, 15 years old)