Human rights education and the research process: action research as a tool for reflection and change

Abstract

Human rights education (HRE) aims to achieve a change of mindsets and social attitudes that entails the construction of a culture of respect towards those values it teaches. Although HRE is a recent field of study, its consolidation in Latin America is a fact. During the latest decades several authors have carried out research related to HRE that has made it easier to understand the process of inclusion of HRE in public policies as well as reflection about research processes as a whole. They favour a discussion about the most frequently used strategies and tools, how the latter contribute to strengthen the production of knowledge in HRE, and to what extent there is an actual interrelation between theory and practice. This research article intends to show the state of these questions in HRE, building on the research and studies carried out in Latin America during the last 10 years. At the same time, the article aims to discuss the importance of action research for HRE, understanding its potential as a tool for reflection and change. In general terms, this research article concludes that the studies on HRE rely more on field research and experience report than on action research methodology. The article is concluded noting an important and current challenge for HRE: a more frequent use of participatory action research in human rights-related work, so the knowing-understanding and applying fields can be constructed.

Keywords:

• Human rights education
• participatory action research
• Latin America

Notes

1. Action research is characterised by constructing the research of a particular reality by making a proposal of change to modify the aforementioned reality; that is, constructing the knowing and acting process, involving the subject population in them.

2. Field research is understood as a research that involves the collecting, processing, analysing, and presentation of data based on the direct analysis of the studied context.

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4. Tripp (2003) mentions a work found in Germany in 1913. Alternatively, he also states that, according to other accounts, action research was used for the first time by John Collier during World War II. Finally, he points out that the germ of concepts such as ‘reflection’ or ‘action research’ can be recognised in the work of John Dewey.

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9. The third colloquium was held in Argentina in 2011, the fourth colloquium in Chile in 2012, and the fifth colloquium in Brazil in 2013.

10. These articles were taken from the following institutions, bodies, or repositories: Latin American, Caribbean, and Spain and Portugal's scientific journals’ network; Inter-American Institute of Human Rights (Revista IIHR); OEI (Revista Iberoamericana de Educación); OAS (Revisa Inter-Americana de Educación para la Democracia); National University of Costa Rica (Revista Latinoamericana de Derechos Humanos); National Autonomous University of Mexico (Revista Latinoamericana de Derecho Social); Mexican Council of Educational Research (Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa); Simón Bolívar Andean University, Ecuador (Revista Aportes Andinos); University of Buenos Aires (Academia – Revista sobre Enseñanza del Derecho); Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (Pensamiento Educativo – Revista de Investigación Educacional Latinoamericana); São Paulo State University, Brazil (Revista Interdisciplinar de Direitos Humanos); São Paulo State University (Revista Educação e Pesquisa); and National Association of Policy and Educational Administration (Revista Brasileira de Política e Administração da Educação). Most of the articles related to HRE were found in IIHR and in Revista Inter-Americana de Educación para la Democracia. The only journal that did not include articles related to the topic of this research is Revista Latinoamericana de Derecho Social.

11. Details about the materials used can be found in the Bibliography.

12. The debate about the effectivity of action research in HRE will be dealt with in the third section, 'The potential of action research in HRE'.

13. The reports developed by the IIDH are available online: www.iidh.edu.cr.

14. All of the studies analysed in this section made use of the PAR methodology. Pestaña and Alcazar (2009, 1), citing Merino and Raya, make clear that action research implies the ‘application of the scientific method to a problem with a praxeological intention and with the intervention of the persons affected to a certain extent’, where PAR incorporates ‘the assumptions of critical epistemology, organises the analysis and the intervention as a constructive pedagogy and make the disappearance of the privileges of the research process the starting point of a social change of indeterminable significance’. Additionally, it is ‘characterised by its collective character, and by yielding results which are used and managed by the implied persons themselves’.

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16. The study started in 2012 was organised into four sections. The first, developed from 2012 to 2013, was dedicated to the study of the inclusion of HRE in the public schools of the Recife Metropolitan Area (capital city of Pernambuco). The second section, developed between 2013 and 2014, was devoted to the study of the same subject in the schools of the inner part of Pernambuco. The third and current stage, which is to develop between 2014 and 2015, is devoted to carry out an action research in the whole state. In the next stage, which will cover 2015 and 2016, there will be monitoring of an intervention plan in the aforementioned schools that has been being constructed collectively through 2014. This study is being carried out with the support of the Foundation of Science and Technology Support of the State of Pernambuco.

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23. Being a non-linear process, this empowerment is perceived as a ‘complex, multidimensional, personal, genuine, and participatory process that happens through experience’ (Méndez 2006, 93). From this point of view, ‘the process of challenging the existing power relations as well as gaining more control over power sources can be called empowerment’ (Batliwala 1997, 193; original emphasis).

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