Education Faculty Dr. Heather Curl co-authored the chapter “Teaching and Learning Together”: One Model of Rights-Centred Secondary Teacher Preparation in the United States in the book Children’s Rights from International Educational Perspectives (Springer).
Core Faculty in Seattle’s MAT, MAEd, UEE, and ARTC programs, Dr. Curl teaches courses in equity, policy, leadership, change, social studies methods and research. She also has experience teaching English and social studies in a number of K-12 educational institutions and is currently writing a book about social mobility.
She co-authored the chapter with Dr. Alison Cook-Sather, Mary Katharine Woodworth Professor of Education and Director, Peace, Conflict and Social Justice concentration and Director, Teaching and Learning Institute, Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges.
“Perhaps in part because it never ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), the United States neither systematically focuses on children’s personalities or talents nor ensures the respect and valuing of students’ culture, as specified in Article 29 of the UNCRC. Instead, narrow conceptions of success and the particularly insidious influences of White supremacist and anti-immigrant perspectives undermine the rights outlined in Article 29. Despite these conditions, individual educators attempt to foster rights-centred education that prioritises the perspectives, personalities, and cultures of young people. We present one example of such efforts: “Teaching and Learning Together,” which positions secondary students as pedagogical partners to undergraduate, secondary teacher candidates.”
