All or nothing? A study on children’s rights in Swedish teacher education

Abstract

In 2020, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is incorporated into Swedish law. In the proposals for new legislation, capacity building was emphasized to generally develop knowledge about children’s rights among professionals at all levels. This article explores the content and aims related to children’s rights in syllabi for Swedish teacher education. 49 programme study plans and 313 syllabi at twelve universities were examined. Results suggest that the teaching of children’s rights in teacher education programs focuses on values rather than knowledge. University syllabi closely mirror national aims, often using exact wording with little effort to elaborate or concretize these aims. The content is expressed in general terms, and courses provide little guidance in what teachers need to know to be prepared for human rights education. Further, it seems that knowledge about children’s rights is considered more important for preschool and primary school teachers, than for teachers in secondary and upper secondary school