University of Novi SadFaculty of PhilosophyDepartment for Pedagogy

Baseline research report on human rights

Sample: teachers (4), administrative staff (4) and students (21)Research time: April 2012Research place: Faculty of Philosophy in Novi SadResearch methodology: focus group, qualitative analysis

Research team: Olivera Gajic, PhDBiljana Lungulov, MA Tamara Borovica, MADunja BekvalacDragana Devic

Research goal:Determine the teaching , administrative staff and students attitudes about the human rights implementation at the Faculty and University and determine the significance and possibilities of their realization .

Teachers Administrative staff

University? HR are respected at the university. Maybe because it is situated in Vojvodina, which is a multicultural, multiethnic and multilingual environment, and as such is a true example of an inclusive democratic community.

HR should be more applied than theorized about, they should be made accessible to everyone; students are familiar with their rights but not with their responsibilities.

Society? Still in a negative context and situation, because only in such situations, when we are violated, we know that we were entitled to something.

Human rights are promoted a lot, but respected very little

Government and/or state institutions?

There has been a significant progress at the state level, but a lot of things in our society and state have been done declaratively and that the practise is still far behind the declarative principles and laws.

HR are promoted as much as they need to be, depending on the current laws, but are not respected sufficiently; the promotion of human rights and their implementation are in opposition;

How well do you think are HR respected/promoted in your...

- Is it/ why is it important to teach HR?- Does/ how does HR education enhance student employability?

It is very important to educate students in HR at the Faculty of Philosophy, because it is the largest faculty for teacher’s education, which thus educates future teachers. Most of them will work with children and young people in the future, so it is extremely important to be educated and sensitized to these issues, because they would thus be able to pass on knowledge and values to young people with whom they work and be good role models.

It is also important for employability, but sometimes students, who are educated and sensitized to the issues of human rights, come to a closed, authoritarian environment which does not accept such democratic ideas, assertiveness, tolerance and the question is – what next?

All the participants in the group agreed that their classes had dealt with topics related to the issue of human rights;

They mentored a lot of seminar, research, final thesis and papers on topics related to HR, children rights, to which extent they are respected and their rights violated

Methodology of teaching – even in courses which are not directly related to these topics, they are trinig to foster the right to having an opinion in classes, and create such atmosphere in the classroom that students are free to express their opinions, to develop tolerance and patience by listening to others, as well as respect other people's opinions.

"education is not all-powerful, nor powerless, but it's very powerful."

Have you discussed HR in any of your classes? In what ways have you taught HR?

Questions Teachers Administrative staff

Do you think HR are important to your university? How could HR be applied better at your university?

The following cycle of accreditation is important. That creates possibilities for the implementation of elective and obligatory courses into study programmes as well as integration of some contents on human rights into the existing courses.

The Faculty recognizes human rights as important in all segments and at all levels of the institution; the respondents are quite satisfied with the way human rights are respected at the Faculty of Philosophy;

Does your university have a non-discriminatory employment policy?

The Faculty of Philosophy nurtured non-discriminatory employment policies. They pointed out that the Faculty was completely open and one of the positive examples in nurturing democracy.

The faculty did have non-discriminatory policies concerning employment. They pointed to the number of foreign language instructors, visiting professors, the number of projects,..

Determine and respecting the human rights at the University

Questions Teachers

Can the high education law be improved and/or of the statute at the University in human rights advantage?

It could always do better and more, although we could be quite satisfied with the current statute, legal and sublegal acts. There is an article in the Statute of Faculty of Philosophy which refers to education of people with special needs;there are special conditions for applying for and getting a place in student dormitories and food in student restaurants for students who belong to vulnerable social groups.

Questions Administrative staff

Have the employs’ human rights been ever harmed?

All the participants agreed that their human rights had been violated, but that had not been anything too serious. Those were certain unpleasant situations, violations of dignity, which is, according to the respondents, common in working with people. They also pointed out that the difference should be made between mobbing and violation of human rights.

The sample of research

Focus group Level of study, number and gender of students

Basic studies Master studies

No (female)

No(male)

No (female)

No(male)

Total

1st focus group 4 3 _ _ 7

2nd focus group _ _ 6 0 6

3rd focus group _ __ 7 1 8

Total 4 3 13 1 21

Questions Basic students Master students

Have you discussed HR in any of your classes? What did you learn?

As a part of those classes they learned that the road to human rights is a very bloody road, as well as that it was almost impossible to achieve human rights.

The topics concerning HR are covered, but, it is done very briefly and without any discussion; however, everything came down to listing HR, interpreting the law and other documents.

What would you like to learn about HR?

How to implement them better and live in accordance with them

How to ensure them, if that is even possible to learn;

Why would you like to learn about HR?

in order for our society to go forward; that both we and others would live a better life;

learning about rights is a way to ensure them; to know what rights we have and know how to react when they are violated, to recognize discrimination;

- Is it/ why is it important to teach/lean about HR?

Questions Basic students Master students

Of what use could HR education be to you in personal as well as professional life?

they assume that almost all of them will work in schools and will be able to help children develop their attitude; In their private life, on the other hand, they primarily see the importance of this in their future role as parents.

to have a better quality of life; It is highly important for our profession to know human rights, especially because the violation of them is very much present at workplaces;

Apart from University courses, where else do you learn about human rights?

On television, within educational programmes, or in some workshops.

In student organizations, at workshops, in all the places where young people organize gatherings. They could learn about human rights indirectly, in all life situations. The media are quite useful

Do you think the media give enough attention to human rights?

Certainly too much, in the wrong direction or in the wrong way.

Media forced stories about human rights violations a lot, focusing mostly on the same rights

Education for HR

All the participants have a positive attitude towards human rights education. They have agreed that Faculty nurtured non-discriminatory employment policies, and that HR of everyone are being respected in the University.

The participants agreed that human rights are promoted a lot, but respected very little, because our society is reigned by poverty which means that a great number of people have their basic right to life violated in this way; the promotion of human rights and their implementation are in opposition;

This approach required persistence and breadth of solutions, and that education could give the first impulse, but it must later be supported by system’s solutions

Conclusions

In the earlier time civic initiatives and non-governmental organisations are mainly concerned about HR, and it is now becoming a part of formal education, which is good because it starts to break conservatism and traditionalism of the formal education system.

Review made by : Olivera Gajić, Ph.D. Biljana Lungulov, MA