Developing Agency and Community - Enacting Rights of the Child
with Dr. Paige Bray
Developing Agency and Community - Enacting Rights of the Child
The 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, established an international shared set of intersectional values and principles that were adopted by all member nations though two nations have yet to ratify these inalienable rights. Developing agency in our children and adolescents ensures their ability to make choices about their own lives and their communities. Our efforts can promote an essential understanding of personal impact, responsibility and empathy. The enduring Montessori movement actively advocates for this agency, underpinned by critical developmental milestones to scaffold optimal outcomes into adulthood. Promoting child and youth understanding of their own abilities as well as the ability of others is key to establishing contributing community members. Learn more about what the Human Rights and Social Justice Advisory recommendations for enacting the Rights of the Child at each plane in support of developing agency and community.
Dr. Paige Bray
Paige M. Bray, Ed.D. is the Director of the Center for Montessori Studies and Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Hartford, Connecticut. She has worked to address systemic inequities for over three decades. Her teaching expertise focuses on the personal “reflexes” and professional identity transitions fostered through dynamic inquiry and the use of meta-cognitive tools with pre-service teachers as well as credentialed teachers across the career continuum. A community engaged scholar, Paige works with and in community using critical and humanistic pedagogy, including Montessori, to support agency and belonging.