About
The
Centre for Learning and Democracy demands universal and
loving care for all children and creates human rights education
curriculum, materials and programs for early care providers
and human rights organizers.
We
are committed to the human rights values of love, respect
and dignity, and the
sanctity of human life. We believe that love
should be the basis of both the practice of and justification
for early education and care.
Our
vision
centres on developing programs and materials to guide
early childhood
education
in the
following
areas:
- Purpose
- People
- Place
- Practice
Purpose
Education
is a moral endeavour. We teach what we value. How we treat
children reflects our values. The extent to which the public
supports education is a values-based question determined
through the political process.
People
Education is a social activity. Learning is driven through
relationships. The roles of teachers, students and
other educational stakeholders determine how and what
is taught. We believe that people should be valued
as
people,
and not
as instruments in a machine that treats people as
products or as human capital in need of investment.
Place
Education is a sensory experience.
Learning places should be joyful and warm, and should feel
more like a home and less like an institution. Learning
places should be interesting and fun, full of things for
learners to experience. They
should be captivating, rich with experiences and reflective
of children's cultural and family lives. Learning places
should be connected to the rest of the world.
Practice
Education is experienced. It is an exercise of doing and action. Learners
should be
fully
engaged in experiences that reflect human rights values. Educational practices
should
involve
learners
in
meaningful and challenging experiences. The doing of education should be
interesting and require mastery of challenges over ideas, social situations
and skills.
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