Abstract:

A rights-based pedagogy is based on the principles of human rights. In education, specifically in childhood education, a pedagogy that guarantees the rights of the child must be based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the other legal issues. A rights-based approach is based on seven fundamental principles: dignity; interdependence and indivisibility; best interests; participation; non-discrimination; transparency and accountability; life, survival, and development. This research focuses on the participation of children in an educational context, from an interpersonal perspective and as a transformative process. It aims to analyze the state of the art on the educator’s role in promoting children's participation. This is a systematic literature review supported in a hermeneutic analysis to proceed with its categorization and interpretation.

The investigative process followed the following steps:
(i) search databases by keywords;
(ii) selection of relevant articles;
(iii) reading the texts, organizing them in a diachronic way;
(iv) elaboration of categories of analysis;
(v) textual elaboration, performing the intersection between pedagogy based on rights and participation.

The study shows that the right of participation of children is still far from being achieved, although children's rights are present in national and international official documents for education. Their children's voice is not always heard and their influence on learning processes is barely visible. The study concludes that children's participation in an educational context is only guaranteed when there are practices based on rights-based pedagogies.

Keywords:

Rights-based pedagogy, child participation, early childhood education, systematic literature review.