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Taking a Human Rights Perspective

This article was given as a keynote address at the ISPA Colloquium in Istanbul, July 1992. It is presented here in an abbreviated form as a lead-in to several other articles devoted to the issue of children's rights. It begins by identifying the need for school psychologists to be prepared for the demands of a rapidly changing world and offers some possible directions for future training and practice. In particular, the preparation of young people to think for themselves and thus become empowered to identify and speak on behalf of their own rights is seen as a priority. An important implication of taking this perspective is that school psychologists should be seeking to involve children at every opportunity in their own assessments and providing their own viewpoints on decisions that are made by others on their behalf. Some examples are given from the author's own recent experience of ways in which this process is being encouraged.