Children's Rights in Early Childhood Education and Care

Megan Mitchell
National Children's Commissioner

Early Childhood Australia Annual General Meeting

19 November 2014

Check Against Delivery

Introduction

 Thank you and good evening everyone.

I’d like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we are meeting, and pay my respects to the Elders past and present.

I’d also like to say a special thank you to the staff at Early Childhood Australia and, in particular, to Marlene Fox, President of the ECA Victoria Branch, for the invitation to speak this evening.

In recent months, I have had the pleasure of working directly with a number of ECA staff and members, on a project of which I am particularly proud. In April of this year, Samantha Page, CEO at ECA, invited me to become a member of the ECA National Advisory Group, a group which was formed to provide advice on the development of a Statement of Intent on Supporting Children’s Rights in Early Childhood Education and Care.

Everyone here this evening understands the importance of positive early childhood experiences for our children.

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child outlines the developmental reasons why early childhood is a critical period for the realisation of children’s rights. This is a time when children: ⁽¹⁾

•  experience the most rapid period of growth and change during  the human lifespan, in terms of their maturing bodies and nervous systems, mobility, communication skills and intellectual capacities, and rapid shifts in their interests and abilities;
• form strong emotional attachments to their parents and other caregivers, from whom they seek nurturance, care, guidance and protection;
• establish their own important relationships with other children of the same age. Through these relationships they learn to negotiate and coordinate shared activities, resolve conflicts, keep agreements and accept responsibility for others;
• actively make sense of the physical, social and cultural dimensions of the world they inhabit, learning progressively from their activities and interactions; and
• form the basis for their physical and mental health, emotional security, cultural and personal identity and developing competencies.

In addition, each child’s experience of growth and development varies according to factors such as:

• their individual nature;
• their gender;
• living conditions;
• family organisation;
• care arrangements; and
• educational opportunities.

Young children are also powerfully shaped by cultural beliefs about their needs and proper treatment, and about their active role in family and community. ⁽²⁾

The Statement of Intent, the product of many months of hard work on the part of ECA Advisory Group members, has been created to support teachers, educators, the community, families and children to authentically support the rights of children and early childhood, to understand and implement child rights education in early childhood education and care settings, and to advocate for children’s rights. It is a practical tool to help ensure that early childhood professionals understand Australia’s obligations to children, and to help inform the great work that they do.

It also provides high-level principles and areas for collective work, advocacy and action by ECA, its members and me over the next three years.

The five themes from my Children’s Rights Report 2013

The Statement of Intent has been based on an analysis and review of a number of key Australian child rights documents, including, of course, the Convention on the Rights of the Child – the international treaty on children’s rights which Australia ratified in 1990.

Other foundation documents for the statement were:

• the Education and Care Services National Law (2010), the national legislative framework for early childhood service delivery;
• the Early Years Framework (2009), which explicitly incorporates the Convention on the Rights of the Child into the national guide for curriculum decision making in early education and care; and
• my 2013 Children’s Rights Report 2013, which was tabled in Parliament in December 2013, and which I would like to speak to you about this evening.

The Children’s Rights Report 2013 was my first report to Parliament in my role as National Children’s Commissioner. It detailed the findings from the Big Banter, a national listening tour which I conducted in order to hear the views of children and young people, and their advocates, throughout Australia.

Through the Big Banter I met with well over 1,000 children face-to-face, and heard from a further 1,400 children online and through the post. ECA members were instrumental in gathering the views of very young children and linking me up with live kids.

I also heard from hundreds of children’s advocates like yourselves. In each of my many consultations, I asked children and young people, and adults, about the issues that were most important for children and young people, and how I could best engage with them in my future work.

I thought I’d share with you just a few of the postcards I received from young children during the Big Banter. When asked what would make life better for children and young people in Australia, responses included:

We all felt safe in a house with a mum and a dad

I got to smile and be happy all the time

We are playing in Kindy

When daddy brings me to childcare

Playing with my toys

More rainbows

It’s raining chocolate and I’m eating all the chocolate

Being loved and growing up bigger

To grow up happy!

Through the information I received from the Big Banter, I identified five key themes for progressing better protection of children’s rights in Australia:

1.  A right to be heard;
2.  Freedom from violence, abuse and neglect;
3. The opportunity to thrive;
4. Engaged citizenship; and
5. Action and accountability.

The themes I identified have formed the basis for my ongoing work plan as Commissioner, and have been adopted as the headline action areas for the Statement of intent.

I’d like to take you through each of these themes in a little more detail, in terms of how they relate to what children and young people, and their advocates, told me and where Australia is presently placed.

The right to be heard

The right to be heard was a major early theme that emerged from discussions with children and young people.

Children and young people frequently told me about the importance of them having a say in decisions which affect them, and for their views to be taken seriously:

Life would be better for children if we had a say in what changes - Primary school student, Tasmania

Letting Australian teenagers have a bigger say in how their schools are run would be a fantastic thing to do - 14 year old, Victoria

Life would be better for children if adults and older people were more open to our ideas and thinking

 - 12 year old,  NSW

Child rights advocates also said Australia should be better at facilitating children’s voice. While there are some great examples of child participation, for example in individual schools and early learning centres, when it comes to respecting the views of the child as a matter of course we can do a whole lot better.

This is echoed by the UN Committee in its Concluding Observations, which pointed out that Australia has inadequate fora for taking into account the views of children below the age of 15 years, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, children in schools and in the migration process in particular.

We need to make sure that we encourage organisations and individuals to systematically involve children in decisions affecting them. This encouragement can come through various means; via information, education, guidelines or perhaps in some cases legislative requirements (as occurs in proceedings before the Family Court).

The development of the Statement of Intent is a live example of this - where consultations with children in early childhood education and care, in addition to adults working directly in the field, were carried out as a means of helping to identify areas for action under the Statement of Intent.

Freedom from violence, abuse and neglect

The second theme to emerge from the Big Banter was freedom from violence, abuse and neglect.

Growing up without violence, abuse and neglect is fundamental to the wellbeing, growth and development of children. And yet, as we know, the rates of child abuse, domestic violence and other violence impacting on children remain unacceptably high.

To illustrate this point, during 2012-2013, 40,571 children aged 0 to 17 years in Australia were the subject of one or more substantiations of abuse or neglect. ⁽³⁾

An ABS survey in 2005 found that of all women who had experienced partner violence since the age of 15 years, and had children in their care during the relationship, 59% reported that the violence was witnessed by their children. ⁽⁴⁾  Research also shows that 23% of all children and 42% Aboriginal children have reported witnessing violence against their mother or stepmother. ⁽⁵⁾

Bullying in schools continues to be widespread. Research indicates that 27% of students in Australia are affected by bullying at school, and approximately 7% reported cyberbullying. ⁽⁶⁾

Further, self-harm and suicide - forms of self-directed violence - are serious problems for children and young people in Australia.

The latest available data from 2012 shows that intentional self-harm was the leading cause of death among Australian children and young people aged 15 to 24. ⁽⁷⁾ Anecdotally I heard during the banter that younger and younger children were presenting with suicidal ideation. However, national data about children under 15 who died from suicide was not reported on until 2013. We now know that between 2008 and 2012, at least 57 children under 15 took their own lives. ⁽⁸⁾  While thankfully the numbers are small, these figures are deeply worrying and point to an urgent need to get in much earlier to help build resilience in our children, encourage help seeking and address the stressors around them.

According to Australian hospital statistics there were 10,699 incidents involving intentional self-harm by 15-24 year olds in the year 2011-12. ⁽⁹⁾  690 incidents involved children aged 5 to 14. ⁽¹⁰⁾

A recent AIHW analysis on trends in hospitalised injury ⁽¹¹⁾ showed that the rate of self-harming resulting in the hospitalisation of 0-14 year olds has increased over time, from 428 in 1999-00 to 565 in 2010-11, and 655 in 2011-12. For 15-24 year olds, the rate also showed a dramatic increase from 5,310 in 1999-00 to 7,597 in 2010-11.

We also know that many more children and young people intentionally self-harm than present to hospital. In 2012, the Kids Helpline responded to 15,887 contacts by children and young people aged 5 to 25 who were assessed to have self-injury and self-harming behaviours. ⁽¹²⁾ In the same year, Kids Helpline also facilitated 9,313 counselling sessions with children and young people aged 5 to 25 who were assessed by the counsellor as having thoughts of suicide. ⁽¹³⁾

Given the magnitude of this issue, throughout this year I conducted an examination into self-harm and suicidal behaviour, with or without suicidal intent, among children and young people. The results of this examination are contained in my annual Children’s Rights Report to Parliament, which I will be launching in December. Copies of the report will be available online via the Australian Human Rights Commission website.

Many of the children I spoke to during the Big Banter revealed a concern with safety, and the safety of their siblings and friends, in the context of both the physical and the online world.

They were particularly concerned about the level of violence, aggression and bullying in the community, and several said they would like to live in an environment that is free from drugs, alcohol and smoking:

Life would be better if nobody got hurt and children felt safe all the time – 4 year old child

Life would be better for children and young people in Australia if there was no drugs and violence. I’ve been beaten up and bullied. I complained about it but it didn’t fix the problem - 13 year old child from the Northern Territory

Life would be better for children and young people if there was no hitting 

- Child from Western Australia

Concerns about violence, abuse and neglect were also raised by child advocates.

While there are some excellent national initiatives which aim to coordinate and galvanise government action on issues around violence, abuse and neglect, real change in this area has been slow to materialise.

The National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children and National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children 2010-2022 are two of these.

In order for these initiatives to be effective significant work needs to be done to ensure that there are targets and benchmarks in place which drive and measure progress over time, as well as robust monitoring processes to learn what works, what must be improved and what must change.

We also need to encourage a proactive approach to issues of child safety, one that places a premium on prevention through building safe communities and environments for children where violence is never tolerated.

The opportunity to thrive

This brings me to the third theme of my report and the statement of intent - the opportunity to thrive.  This primarily relates to addressing the unequal life opportunities that exist for vulnerable groups of children and young people in Australia. Many of these children and young people find themselves streamed into costly tertiary systems like juvenile justice and out-of-home care, invariably putting them on a path to replicate patterns of social exclusion and disenfranchisement through the generations.

Many children I spoke with during the Big Banter were aware of the disparities that can exist between the circumstances of children and their families.

Some children worried that they cannot afford to do or have the things they would like, and they want more things to be available for free. They also have an awareness of poverty and other disadvantages faced by some children, and the need for children and their families to get more help with basic living costs, health, education and recreation.

Here are a few quotes from children and young people which reinforce this point:

I have Asperger’s Syndrome. Life in primary school was very difficult. Life would be better if people that were different, disabilities, races, religions and any other differences, all accepted each other. If there was no bullying. If schools were supportive of kids with disabilities, especially invisible disabilities like Asperger’s Syndrome.
14 year old child from Victoria

Life would be better for children and young people in Australia if we were all treated with equality and we were all treated fairly. Life would be better if everyone learned the meaning of freedom.
10 year old child from Victoria

Life would be better for children if the government made sure every child had all the rights. I think every child should have food and water.
An Australian child

Children’s advocates I spoke to had specific concerns for children in out of home care, children in the juvenile justice system, asylum seeking and refugee children – especially those in immigration detention, children with disabilities, and children who are homeless.

One of the strongest themes to emerge in my meetings with child advocates during the Big Banter was the call for comprehensive and coordinated investment across the nation in early intervention and preventative services for children and families, to build resilient children and break the cycle of disadvantage.

Research, including that commissioned by the Benevolent Society in 2013, shows that it is important to do more to tackle issues for children early on, before they become difficult to fix and expensive for the community. However, while it is fair to say there are some promising examples out there, current investment in early intervention, prevention and family support across the nation is patchy and uncoordinated.

I will continue to use my annual reports to Parliament in ways that highlight the particular vulnerabilities experienced by certain groups of children, and to outline action that should be taken to assure them of their rights.

I am also working collaboratively with my colleagues at the Australian Human Rights Commission to focus on groups of children in need of special protection. In February 2014, the Australian Human Rights Commission announced an Inquiry into children in immigration detention in Australia. The purpose of this Inquiry was to investigate the ways in which immigration detention affects the health, well-being and development of children, and to assess whether laws, policies and practices are meeting Australia’s international human rights obligations.

During April and May 2014, I travelled with the Commission’s Inquiry team to assist in conducting interviews with children and families held in detention centres in the Northern Territory, Victoria and South Australia. A member of the Children’s Rights policy team also travelled with the Inquiry team to Christmas Island to assist with the interviewing process.

The final report of the Inquiry was transmitted to the Attorney-General earlier this month, and will be tabled in federal Parliament sometime in the near future.

Engaged citizenship

The fourth theme is ‘engaged citizenship’.

Child rights advocates raised with me the need for general education on children’s rights, in school and in specific contexts such as child protection.

The need for child rights education was reinforced to me by children and young people during the Big Banter. Many said that they knew little about children’s rights, and that it would be useful to know more:

I have a little sister who is 9 years old. We both know that kids and young people should be safe and be able to go to school and have food, but we’d never heard of the UN convention that puts all of this in writing. In fact, I don’t think many young people know about the Convention. But we should know because it’s important to see this in writing and for me, it was comforting to see that I and other young people are recognised this way.
15 year old, Victoria

I have found that when children find out that they have rights, it is a profoundly empowering moment for them. And the knowledge that adults have a responsibility to ensure their rights are realised serves to safeguard them and builds their sense of self-worth and agency. A child who understands their rights also respects the rights of others. As this wise young person said:

Children need better education on topics that matter. Education is knowledge and knowledge is power. And all children should have the chance to use their power to better our country.
17 year old, Victoria

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has also pointed to our limited knowledge of children’s rights, and recommended that Australia includes education on children’s rights in its National Human Rights Action Plan, and modules on human rights in its school curriculum and professional training programs.

The Commission is currently working on a new school initiative to provide children and young people with a critical understanding of their rights and responsibilities. This initiative involves the development of a suite of resources linked to the National School Curriculum. The resources focus on the topics of anti-racism and disability, and are linked to the History, Geography and Health and Physical Education curricula. These resources will be launched in early December.

The Commission has also developed a mapping resource for teachers called Human Rights Examples for the Australian Curriculum. This mapping resource is designed as a guide for teachers to provide human rights related examples that are consistent with key learning area content descriptions. Each human rights example is mapped by key learning area, year level, code and content description so teachers can easily identify possible human rights content for their programs.

Choose Your Own Statistics

In addition, the Commission has worked in partnership with ABC Splash to create an interactive educational website called Choose Your Own Statistic. The content of this website has been closely mapped to the Australian Curriculum for Mathematics and is designed to help children and young people in Years 5 to 8 gain a better understanding of important human rights issues in Australian society. Through the use of infographics and interactive graphs, children and young people can explore a range of human rights topics and the statistical data underpinning each topic. The website is now live and available for viewing via the Australian Human Rights Commission website.

There are, of course, other opportunities to develop children’s understanding of their own rights and responsibilities as citizens, including educating children through early childhood development and care settings. The Statement of Intent includes, in its key priority areas for action, the need to support early childhood professionals to educate children about their rights and responsibilities as active citizens.

Action and accountability

The final theme identified through the Big Banter was centred around the need to ensure action and accountability for children’s rights.

For younger children, the importance of action and accountability is expressed in terms of wanting to be able to get help, and be cared for when they need it, and for other children to be helped as well. During the Big Banter, children and young people told me they want adults to take action:

Sometimes my friends need help but don’t know where to go or don’t want to make a fuss.
16 year old, ACT

Life would be better for children and young people in Australia if the government banned drugs and smoking, not just around children. This would make life better for not only young people but for people who have lost members of their family from drugs and smoking.
11 year old, Victoria

I’m a young Indigenous person. I’m locked up in a Youth Detention Centre. I want more staff to prevent fights between other inmates. I also want more help on the outside instead of being locked up straight away.
Young person, Victoria

When children identify that they need help to enjoy their rights, it is incumbent on us as adults to find ways to help them.

While there are many mechanisms and organisations in place to help children realise their rights, it is clear that in the 24 years that Australia has been a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, children’s rights have have been treated in an ad hoc, uncoordinated manner.

Many improvements in child wellbeing are not attributable to good planning, but rather flow on as a consequence of the general economic prosperity of the nation.

One of the consequences of this is that improvements in wellbeing are not enjoyed equally. There are clearly some groups in the community who have fallen behind, or who have not been in a position to benefit from the nation’s overall prosperity.

To change this, we need to put in place a system which can give us a clear understanding of the big picture and the overall destination of Australia’s children.

In my 2013 report I pointed to a number of ways we can do this:

1. Collecting comprehensive national data about the wellbeing and human rights of Australia’s children
2. Progressing a national vision for children’s wellbeing and safety through intergovernmental partnerships and agreements
3. Developing outcome based reporting and monitoring of government service delivery and policy development in relation to children’s rights
4. Developing children’s impact assessment processes for law, policy and practice.

There are also some important international human rights treaties which, if ratified by Australia, would help to protect children in need of special protection.

The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communication Procedure – the so-called Third Optional Protocol – if signed and ratified, would mean that children could make complaints to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child about breaches of their rights, once they have exhausted domestic remedies. The main outcome from our ratification of this protocol would be to ensure domestic remedies are available and accessible to Australia’s children.

Another treaty, the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) requires countries to set up preventative monitoring mechanisms to ensure that anyone detained – including children – are protected from mistreatment. Australia has not yet ratified this important treaty.

Conclusion

As I have mentioned, each of the five themes developed as a result of my Big Banter throughout 2013 relate to what children and their advocates told me. They also inevitably point to particular areas where action can be taken to improve the lives of our children, and I am thrilled that they have helped form the basis of the Statement of Intent on Supporting Children’s Rights in Early Childhood Education and Care.

I have provided information about the Statement of Intent in my 2014 Children’s Rights Report to Parliament, due to be launched in December, and also included the most recent draft of the Statement of Intent in my report appendices. It is my hope that providing this information to Parliament will increase the profile of the Statement of Intent, and its capacity to influence the delivery of children’s services in Australia.

I would like to take this opportunity to once again extend my sincere thanks to ECA and to the members of the ECA National Advisory Group, for their work in developing this important resource, which we hope to launch at the Human Rights Commission in the not too distant future.

I am keen to continue to work together and spread the word so that the rights of our youngest children are recognised, valued and protected. It is never too early to start educating children about their rights. As you know children’s early learning experiences shape their thinking and values, and children who grow up knowing they are human rights holders will carry the messages of respect and dignity that come with that mantle into their adulthoods. 

Thank you.

Endnotes

(1) Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 7 – Implementing Child Rights in Early Childhood, UN Doc CRC/C/GC/7/Rev.1 (2006), p 3, para 6. At http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC%2fC
%2fGC%2f7%2fRev.1&Lang=en (viewed 1 October 2014).

(2) Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding observations: Australia, UN Doc CRC/C/AUS/CO/4 (2012), para 4(a). At http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/docs/co/CRC_C_AUS_CO_4.pdf (viewed 1 October 2014).

(3) Australian Institute of Family Studies, Child Protection Australia 2012-2013 (2014). At http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129548164 (viewed 4 November 2014).

(4) K Richards, ‘Children’s Exposure to Domestic Violence in Australia’, Australian Institute of Criminology Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, No 419 (2011).

(5) Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Family Violence Among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (2006). At http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=6442467912 (viewed 17 November 2014).

(6) D Cross, T Shaw, I Hearn, M Epstein, H Monks, L Lester, L Thomas, Australian Covert Bullying Prevalence Study, Child Health Promotion Research Centre, Edith Cowan University (2009), p 284.

(7) Australian Bureau of Statistics, Causes of Death, Australia, 2012, Catalogue Number 3303.0 (2014), table 1.3, line 40. At http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/detailspage/3303.02012?opendocument (viewed 11 April 2014).

(8) Australian Bureau of Statistics, note 7, table 5.1.

(9) Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australian hospital statistics 2011-12, National tables for external causes of injury or poisoning (part 1), Catalogue Number HSE 134 (2013), tables 3 and 4. At http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=60129543133&tab=3 (viewed 11 April 2014).

(10) Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, note 7, table 4, line 15.

(11) Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Trends in Hospitalised Injury, Australia: 1999-00 to 2010-11 (2013). At http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=60129544399 (viewed 17 November 2014).