Introduction: Contemporary school environments are highly diverse, posing challenges to social inclusion and peer relationships. This diversity can lead to bullying, discrimination, and social exclusion, violating participation rights associated with inclusion and sustainability. Such violations particularly affect students with stigmatized attributes (e.g., disabilities, overweight) or identities (e.g., ethnic minorities, immigrants). This study explores a transdisciplinary approach integrating Positive Youth Development (PYD), which fosters inclusive social skills, with Human Rights Education (HRE), which promotes knowledge and respect for participation rights. This integration may recover collective responsibility for constructing inclusive and peaceful societies, starting with rights-respectful school contexts among kindergarten children.
Purpose: This pilot study evaluates the efficacy of "A Puzzle of Rights" in promoting knowledge and respect for participation rights, enhancing recognition of rights violations, and developing assertive responses among kindergarten children.
Method: Sixty children (aged 4-6) attending their final kindergarten year were randomly assigned to intervention or control groups. The intervention comprised ten 40-minute sessions addressing human rights from the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN, 1989) and animal rights from the Universal Declaration of Animal Rights (UNESCO, 1978). Sessions included discussions of rights-violating situations, identification of positive social behaviours and assertive reactions, and simulated role-playing exercises. Pre- and post-intervention assessments measured peer acceptance/rejection (sociometric nominations), recognition of rights violations, and assertive responses.
Results: Repeated-measures analyses revealed that intervention group participants demonstrated significantly higher positive sociometric nominations, and enhanced recognition of and assertive responses to rights violations compared to the control group.
Conclusions: Integrating PYD and HRE effectively promotes rights-respectful, inclusive and sustainable school contexts. This transdisciplinary approach demonstrates psychology's role in fostering inclusive social skills such as the ability to assertively react to rights violations, and collective responsibility for respecting participation rights, aligning with SDG 16 for building inclusive and peaceful societies.