Citizenship and human rights education Evaluation of an intervention project through the arts

Abstract

This article presents the results of the «Citizenship and Human Rights Education» project, implemented at an elementary school no. 5052 from the Neighbourhood of Capalanga (Luanda, Angola). The project’s main goal was to enlarge human rights (HR) and citizenship education among the students, by developing a set of skills to improve their participation in the different dimensions of school, family and society affairs. The work was organised through «personal development sessions» and «open sessions» based on artistic expression, as an innovative project in terms of methodology in Angola. In order to assess this project, an «evaluation research methodology» was developed according to a longitudinal research plan (pre- and post-) and a control group. After the analysis of the results, it is possible to observe that the project was not significantly effective in the promotion of the children’s proactivity-related behaviours and their critical approach; it also was inconclusive as to the influence in promoting behaviours associated with autonomy, participation/cooperation and equality of participation. Nonetheless, data show that the actions were particularly effective in the promotion of awareness of the importance of civic participation and the actual and perceived knowledge of HR.