Renegotiating an early childhood pedagogy for rights in Rwanda

Abstract

The foundation for children’s human rights education (CHRE) is established in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC 1989; UN, 2001) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (1999). Yet, research on early childhood education about, through and for rights has been overlooked globally. This is the first study to illuminate children’s, teachers’, and parents’ perceptions of CHRE in early childhood in Rwanda. The study sought to explore how these insights can contribute to reconstructing a meaningful pedagogy for rights in this community. A postcolonial lens was utilised to unsettle power dynamics and a new conceptualisations called ‘working knowledges’ was developed to harness children’s resistances, negotiations and influence in knowledge production.

This participatory study took place in one nursery school in Rwanda, with 38 children, ten parents/kin and twelve teachers. Research involved responsive multi-modal methods with ten ‘research influencers’ (aged three to six years), and two talking circles with their peers. Research with adults included two online questionnaires and four talking circles. Thematic analysis was used to explore participants’ perceptions through a postcolonial optic. The findings illuminate plural perspectives on CHRE, where fusions, resistances, negotiations, and transformations coexist. Sociocultural values and emotions were interwoven into perceptions, reflecting and transcending binary positions that insist on the uniqueness of culture or shared universal ideas.

Presenting a postcolonial way of theorising CHRE, contributes to critical theorisations that challenge dominant assumptions in children’s rights research and knowledge production in, and about, Rwanda. The thesis concludes that reconstructing a legally informed but culturally legitimate early childhood pedagogy for rights is required in this study’s context. Beyond Rwanda, a conceptual model is proposed for activating a methodological third space to (re)negotiate contextually connected approaches to CHRE, with communities who will engage with it.

Thesis is embargoed until 31 December 2024.

Date of Award	Dec 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Supervisor	Laura Lundy (Supervisor), Bronagh Byrne (Supervisor) & Professor Eugene Ndabaga (Supervisor)