Article by Melanie Hussak

Human rights education in its current form goesbackto the experiences of the horrors of the Second World War.The focus of human rights education is therefore on pedagogical approaches to overcoming violence in various forms. These are often characterized by a strong focus on goals, as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and an associated orientation towards action. Codified human rights serve as a basis and guideline for both ethical and rights-based action. In addition, there is a human rights attitude that should be developed and encouraged in human rights education. However, if human rights education is to be more than mere knowledge of codified human rights, an awareness of personal responsibility for the realization of human rights must be conveyed. In the school context, this requires making it possible to experience the normative significance of human rights in everyday life.

This makes it all the more important to examine the views of teachers on human rights education in the classroom, as they are expected to actively implement it in the school context. Stefanie Rinaldi's dissertation, published as a monograph, is dedicated to this field of tension between knowledge, attitude, action and learning environment (divided in the relevant literature into education about, for and through human rights) in which teachers find themselves.

The study takes as its starting point the role of teachers in the implementation of human rights education and thus considers an aspect that has long been neglected in empirical research. Rinaldi refers to current theories in education and teacher research, which identify the views of teachers as a key factor.

Using group discussions, Rinaldi examines the views and understandings of Swiss secondary school teachers on human rights education. Based on the results, the study aims to develop possibilities for the further implementation and development of human rights education at grammar schools. It focuses on the understanding of human rights education as well as the attitudes and convictions regarding learning content, learning objectives, teaching-learning processes and the educational mission of grammar schools and the associated challenges for the field of human rights education. The focus on teachers in Switzerland is of specific interest, as human rights education and related educational concepts are not explicit components of the curricula for Swiss grammar schools. The question of which concepts teachers refer to as an alternative is therefore particularly important.

In addition to the points mentioned above, personal and context-related perspectives on human rights-based learning environments, self-efficacy and social and political framework conditions also move to the center of the study.

The particular relevance of Rinaldi's study lies in recognizing and examining subjective meanings and understandings as the basis of human rights education. Dealing with human rights offers teachers and young people the opportunity to engage with values, attitudes and personal and socio-political processes and to reflect on their own options for action. The stimulation of learning processes is therefore also highly subjective.

From the perspective of research on human rights education, the author also contributes to closing two further research gaps: the divergence between theory and practice and an empirically based reflection on the numerous challenges that arise in the pedagogical implementation of human rights education due to the field of tension outlined above.

The results of the study confirm the relevance and subjective experiences and concepts of teachers as a determining factor and important prerequisite for the integration of human rights education into everyday school life and for the learning success of pupils.

Rinaldi uses her findings to outline ideas for further pedagogical and methodological development in Swiss secondary schools based on their significance for everyday teaching and to make suggestions for institutional measures, supporting materials and training and further education. In addition to presenting the views of teachers, the back cover of the monograph also promises to show how human rights education can be further developed pedagogically, methodologically and institutionally. On the other hand, it announces ideas for pedagogical implementation. The study falls somewhat short of this announcement. The derivations are only sketched out rudimentarily and ultimately remain only initial suggestions. However, they invite further thought and research and can certainly be regarded as very valuable research desiderata. They show impulses for a little-researched human rights education, which is sometimes satisfied with the creation of teaching materials and collections of methods.

Even if the author emphasizes at the end of the book that the conclusions of the study can only be transferred to other contexts to a limited extent due to the focus on the Swiss education system and its deficits in the area of human rights education, the book nevertheless offers valuable impulses for human rights education in schools outside of Switzerland as well as fundamental impulses for research on human rights education, according to the reviewer.

Due to the very comprehensive literature review, Rinaldi's book is also a very worthwhile introduction for teachers, multipliers and others interested in human rights education in schools, although it is primarily a research work. The reference to relevant international documents on human rights and human rights education, as well as the discussion and differentiation from related areas of education such as peace education, clearly clarify the content, approaches and objectives of human rights education. It also provides an introduction to current discourses on human rights education. Even if not all expectations with regard to the announced topics are completely fulfilled, the book is still very readable and an important contribution to an urgently needed empirically based human rights education and educational research.

- Human rights education at grammar schools: understandings, opportunities and challenges by Stefanie Rinaldi. Leverkusen/Berlin: Barbara Budrich.