Education and Engagement at the Children’s Legal Centre Wales
The Children’s Legal Centre Wales (based in the School of Law) has been funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation to develop a Wales-wide approach to young people’s (11-17) legal education on their human rights and the law as it affects them in Wales. Rhian Howells has been appointed Education and Engagement Lead and started in post June 2023 for an initial 3-year period.
A primary focus of the work is young people’s involvement in identifying the information they need and monitoring the development of their understanding through their engagement with the project. The current pilot project focuses on engagement with year six pupils in three local primary schools with the aim of then monitoring this cohort of young people through their transition to secondary school. Over a 6-week programme the children learn about relevant laws that are specific to Wales, as well as learning about their human rights.
Using our Children’s Rights Approach to plan the project, children are initially taught about their rights through role play scenarios exploring life with and without the protection of the UN Conventions on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Working in small groups, children identify areas of the law they wish to know more about and plan how they would like to share what they have learnt with the wider school community. Sessions will then be developed for secondary school level on issues identified by the young people such as vaping, setting fires and employment rights! These resources, including session plans, infographics, videos, links to the Welsh Curriculum, homework ideas etc., will be trialled early 2025 and available for schools for general use once finalised.
