Globalisation and Education Futures: The Imperative of Realising the Child’s Right to an Education of Substance

The realisation of children’s rights within educational contexts necessitates a shared comprehension between adults and children of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (United Nations, Convention on the rights of the child. United Nations, 1989), which distinctly articulates not only the rights to which children are entitled but also the specific obligations required to fulfill those rights.While Convention is conspicuous in declaring what children are owed and how those obligations can be realised in school, rights attainment in many education contexts remain unfulfilled. The rights of the child are materially important as those rights relevant to child safety, protection, provision directly reflect the overarching principles of human rights understandings. Where child rights understandings become problematic is when the material aspect of the “child” that can be universally considered as worthy of protection is interchanged by socially and culturally constructed notions of the child viewed through various sociocultural and developmental lenses. By referencing children’s school participation through the criteria identified in Article 29 of the UNCRC, more practical, educationally relevant, and effective adherence to child’s rights can occur. Anchoring practice to the explicit mandates of the United Nations will enable the visible actioning of the child’s education rights. In this chapter the author identifies the synergies and divergences of children’s educational experiences with the mandates of the UNCRC.