The Pedagogical Significance of Korczak’s “Rights of the Child”: as Explicated in Beiner’s “Pedagogy of Respect”

Abstract

Janusz Korczak, a Polish doctor, author of juvenile literature, and an orphanage director, lived with children until his death in the Treblinka concentration camp. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is based on his ideas. These rights as promoted by Korczak include the right of a child ‘to live in the present', ‘to be what s/he is', and ‘to die prematurely'. Korczak refers to these rights as the "Magna Carta Libertatum" of the basic Rights of the Child.

Korczak's thought and praxis are widely appreciated in Germany in the field of pedagogy, as evident from Friedhelm Beiner's work. Beiner, a German professor and a scholar of Korczak's works, presented the Rights of the Child in his work "Korczak's Pedagogy of Respect". He placed great emphasis on "treating children with respect" as mentioned in Korczak's educational theory.

This study explores the influence of Korczak's views on children's rights on Beiner's "Pedagogy of Respect". It also analyzes the transformation of pedagogical relations between children and adults.