On May 6, one of the latest Council of Europe (CoE) publication “Compasito - a Manual for Human Rights Education With Children“ (German version) was presented to educational professionals in Berlin/ Germany.

The German Institute for Human Rights invited primary and secondary school teachers, school heads, NGO representatives, and other practitioners to learn more about this new practical tool.

During the day, the following sessions were offered, covering some of the manual’s main human rights themes:

• children rights
• participation
• violence
• discrimination
• poverty and social exclusion

The EWC contributed actively by introducing some methods which can be used when starting to explore children rights.

During the day, around 100 participants got to know several learning and teaching tools which can be used with children wherever they spend the greatest part of their daily life: in schools, in childcare centres, afternoon-schools, leisure centres, or children’s organisations.

Participants reflected on how to use these tools in their own practice, and many shared examples of how they already work for children and human rights in the classroom/ school and/ or local community. Among them e.g. children rights election for the whole school, a school project which links human rights education with community development.

Compasito was strongly valued as a very important resource offering practical help to explore human and children rights with children. Yet the main challenge for participants remains to adapt the methods related to different contexts and target groups.

At the end of the day, participants felt very inspired by sharing practical examples within such a diverse group of professionals, and urged the need for further networking activities among local actors. In this regard, a stronger focus on good practices and peer-to-peer learning opportunities was requested.

The German version of Compasito was published last year, thanks to the efforts of the German Institute for Human Rights/ Human Rights Education Department. This year, the Institute will offer several training courses for multipliers on national level to spread Compasito broadly in formal and non formal education.

Compasito was developed by the Council of Europe, Directorate of Youth and Sport/ European Youth Centre Budapest and published in 2007. It was designed for educators and trainers working with children, teachers, caretakers and parents as well, especially those who are interested in human rights education with children and who are looking for practical tools to discuss values and social issues with children. The activities are designed for children from six to thirteen years.

The manual was inspired by ‘Compass – A Manual on Human Rights Education With Young People’, which was developed by the CoE in 2002. More than expected, ‘Compass’ is used with younger people of secondary school age and in school environments in many European countries. Yet this manual is translated into 25 different languages, more are in progress (e.g. Urdu, Greek, Lithuanian).

Order the German version of Compasito here.

An online version of the German translation is offered by the Centre of Human Rights Education (ZMRB) Lucerne/ Switzerland and available at: www.compasito-zmrb.ch