Empowering and Promoting Children’s Rights by Implementing Skills Labs Using Engaging Learning Activities

Despite the efforts to advance children’s rights’ protection, many children’s rights are still not respected in many places. This makes it more necessary than ever to raise the awareness of children’s rights and prepare new generations of students to protect children’s rights via empowering them to...

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Main Authors: Charikleia Pitsou, Ioannis G. Katsantonis, Argyrios Katsantonis, Georgios S. Gorozidis
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-03-01
Series:Societies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/15/4/84
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author Charikleia Pitsou
Ioannis G. Katsantonis
Argyrios Katsantonis
Georgios S. Gorozidis
author_facet Charikleia Pitsou
Ioannis G. Katsantonis
Argyrios Katsantonis
Georgios S. Gorozidis
author_sort Charikleia Pitsou
collection DOAJ
description Despite the efforts to advance children’s rights’ protection, many children’s rights are still not respected in many places. This makes it more necessary than ever to raise the awareness of children’s rights and prepare new generations of students to protect children’s rights via empowering them to engage in activism. Drawing upon human rights education (HRE) models in conjunction with UNICEF’s methodologies, and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), the current conceptual article suggests that by designing theoretically based engaging and meaningful learning activities, teachers can address the goals of HRE by raising the awareness of children’s rights, fostering accountability, and encouraging students to engage in activism to protect children’s rights. First, this article outlines a conceptual framework for designing meaningful and engaging learning activities within an adapted HRE model, combining the elements of HRE and UNICEF. Next, the educational innovation of Skills Labs in Greek education is introduced, and the TPB’s foundation on designing learning activities is briefly explained. To clarify our proposal, three sample Skills Labs with example learning activities are presented, adhering to the three main HRE objectives of gaining knowledge–taking responsibility–taking action to protect and consolidate children’s rights. Finally, this article explains the mechanism of how the TPB can support the effectiveness of this proposition and concludes with some important implications for practice.
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spelling doaj-art-bf0057fcf2f54cd2baafd0de699f3e402025-08-20T02:18:05ZengMDPI AGSocieties2075-46982025-03-011548410.3390/soc15040084Empowering and Promoting Children’s Rights by Implementing Skills Labs Using Engaging Learning ActivitiesCharikleia Pitsou0Ioannis G. Katsantonis1Argyrios Katsantonis2Georgios S. Gorozidis3Department of Educational Sciences and Social Work, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, GreecePsychology, Education and Learning Studies Research Group, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 8PQ, UKDepartment of Educational Sciences and Social Work, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, GreeceDepartment of Educational Sciences and Social Work, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, GreeceDespite the efforts to advance children’s rights’ protection, many children’s rights are still not respected in many places. This makes it more necessary than ever to raise the awareness of children’s rights and prepare new generations of students to protect children’s rights via empowering them to engage in activism. Drawing upon human rights education (HRE) models in conjunction with UNICEF’s methodologies, and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), the current conceptual article suggests that by designing theoretically based engaging and meaningful learning activities, teachers can address the goals of HRE by raising the awareness of children’s rights, fostering accountability, and encouraging students to engage in activism to protect children’s rights. First, this article outlines a conceptual framework for designing meaningful and engaging learning activities within an adapted HRE model, combining the elements of HRE and UNICEF. Next, the educational innovation of Skills Labs in Greek education is introduced, and the TPB’s foundation on designing learning activities is briefly explained. To clarify our proposal, three sample Skills Labs with example learning activities are presented, adhering to the three main HRE objectives of gaining knowledge–taking responsibility–taking action to protect and consolidate children’s rights. Finally, this article explains the mechanism of how the TPB can support the effectiveness of this proposition and concludes with some important implications for practice.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/15/4/84human rights educationrights of the childlearning activitiesraising awarenessactivismtheory of planned behaviour
spellingShingle Charikleia Pitsou
Ioannis G. Katsantonis
Argyrios Katsantonis
Georgios S. Gorozidis
Empowering and Promoting Children’s Rights by Implementing Skills Labs Using Engaging Learning Activities
Societies
human rights education
rights of the child
learning activities
raising awareness
activism
theory of planned behaviour
title Empowering and Promoting Children’s Rights by Implementing Skills Labs Using Engaging Learning Activities
title_full Empowering and Promoting Children’s Rights by Implementing Skills Labs Using Engaging Learning Activities
title_fullStr Empowering and Promoting Children’s Rights by Implementing Skills Labs Using Engaging Learning Activities
title_full_unstemmed Empowering and Promoting Children’s Rights by Implementing Skills Labs Using Engaging Learning Activities
title_short Empowering and Promoting Children’s Rights by Implementing Skills Labs Using Engaging Learning Activities
title_sort empowering and promoting children s rights by implementing skills labs using engaging learning activities
topic human rights education
rights of the child
learning activities
raising awareness
activism
theory of planned behaviour
url https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/15/4/84
work_keys_str_mv AT charikleiapitsou empoweringandpromotingchildrensrightsbyimplementingskillslabsusingengaginglearningactivities
AT ioannisgkatsantonis empoweringandpromotingchildrensrightsbyimplementingskillslabsusingengaginglearningactivities
AT argyrioskatsantonis empoweringandpromotingchildrensrightsbyimplementingskillslabsusingengaginglearningactivities
AT georgiossgorozidis empoweringandpromotingchildrensrightsbyimplementingskillslabsusingengaginglearningactivities