RRSA Conference 2025
A child rights approach to inclusion
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About this event and session recordings
The RRSA Conference 2025 focused on best practice approaches to inclusion and navigating the tensions between securing the rights of each individual child alongside the rights of the wider school community.
Our keynote speaker in this year’s conference was Professor Laura Lundy, from Queen’s University Belfast, who discussed themes from her co-authored paper ‘Children, classrooms and challenging behaviour: do the rights of the many outweigh the rights of the few?’. The paper offers a rights-informed approach and a model to consider responses to some of the conflicts impacting relationships and access to education in schools.
Conference attendees heard from Carol Robinson, Professor of Children’s Rights at Strathclyde University, who is leading a research project exploring the impact of RRSA on inclusion in schools.
We concluded the conference with a panel of school RRSA leaders in conversation with Programme Director, Martin Russell, on how children’s rights and a Rights Respecting approach has informed their work on inclusion within a range of settings.
Panellists:
Scott McEwan, Headteacher, Alva Academy, Scotland
Razia Ali, Executive Headteacher, Wyndcliffe Primarcy School, Birmingham
Sharon Gladman, Executive Headteacher, Eastbury Community School, London
Lynne Wales, Headteacher, South Street Primary, Gateshead
Session Recordings from Conference 2024 - school leadership within the framework of child rights education
Session Recordings from Conference 2023
This session on UNICEF’s work in education globally was led by Kate Cotton, Senior Programme Specialist (Education) UNICEF UK.
Introduction from Isobel Mitchell, Professional Adviser RRSA
The Child Rights Journey in Scotland with Maxine Jolly, Senior Education Officer, Educate Scotland.
Introduction from Gerry McMurtrie, RRSA Senior Professional Adviser.
Safeguarding and tackling child-on-child abuse through the framework of children’s rights with Sarah Lancaster, Head of Safeguarding at UNICEF UK Marielle Burgess and Jenni Girling from Comberton Village Collage.
Session introduced by Katelyn Farrenson, RRSA Professional Adviser
This session with Rebecca Dallison, Head of Campaigns and Kathy Allan, RRSA Senior Professional Adviser, at UNICEF UK, features campaigning in school case studies from Wesley Davidson from Fareham Academy and Whitney Shore, Chesterton Primary School, Battersea.
Introduction from Jenny Price, RRSA Professional Adviser.
Rebecca’s PowerPoint presentation
Whitney’s PowerPoint presentation
Wesley’s PowerPoint presentation
Practitioners Panel discussion with Martin Russell, Marie Murphy, Shubnam Aziz, Sumana Jain and Ioannis Skarmoutsos.