ABSTRACT
This chapter examines changing conceptions of children's rights and identifies some key issues for teachers. It considers the implications of the UN Convention on school and classroom organisation and explores how the Convention might be used as an instrument for policy development in teacher education. A special treaty body, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, exists to support the process of its implementation. R. Hart argues that the participation rights of children and young people must be set within the context of unequal power relations and the struggle for equal rights. Formal education is the main means by which international human rights legislation can become known and understood within communities. As teachers and student teachers engaged in the process of exploring the principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, it is helpful to examine the relationship between the legal and moral aspects of human rights.
