Online Conference
20th November 2026
More than thirty-five years after the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), children’s rights are firmly established in international law and increasingly present in education policies and discourse. Yet their translation into the everyday life of schools remains uneven. Recent research continues to identify a gap between recognising children as rights-holders and enabling them to actually experience and exercise those rights in education, particularly in relation to equality, participation, autonomy, play and influence over decisions that affect them.
The consequence is that schools remain “paradoxical spaces: they are meant to promote human rights but often reproduce restrictive or even unjust practices” (Johnsson,2026).
This conference wants to depart from this uncomfortable paradox and explore
what would education look like if children’s rights were not only taught or recognised, but actually shaped how schools work, conceiving children are rights-holders in the present, not only future citizens learning how to exercise rights later in life.
Moving beyond education about rights, the conference will focus on all these aspects of education that must themselves be compatible with those rights: the curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, relationships, rules, governance and everyday organisation of education. We want to offer a space to examine good practices but also tensions and contradictions: between protection and autonomy, participation and adult authority, inclusion and institutional barriers, individual practice and systemic change.
With the aim to connect and move the conversation one step further from rights recognised to rights experienced, the conference will bring together researchers, educators, civil society organisations and policymakers. We will provide a space to explore current research avenues, highlight transferable school practices, and explore innovations in education policy and institutional reform across Europe that can support a more genuinely rights-based education system.
Children as Co-Creators and Decision-Makers
How can we move beyond consultation and “student voice” towards meaningful influence and shared decision-making?
This strand explores children as co-researchers, co-creators of knowledge and active participants in shaping their learning, their school communities and the decisions that affect them. It also looks critically at tokenism, adult–child power relations and the conditions needed for children’s contributions to lead to real change.
Held on the International Day of Children’s Rights, QUEST’s conference 2026, themed “Reimagining Education Through Children’s Rights” will explores how children’s rights frameworks can reshape educational cultures, enable the meaningful participation of students as co-creators of their education, and challenge the assumptions, structures, and power relations that have historically defined schooling.
Education professionals, policy experts, academics, and decision-makers will share perspectives on how children’s rights frameworks can transform education, becoming environments where student’s self determination is at the center of the learning process.
From practice based presentations and policy analysis, this conference aims to move from reflection to real action. The practice lab “ From Students Voice to School Change” is bringing together schools across Europe, which are part of QUEST network, to share their experience on adopting student participation practices in their educational settings, inspiring other schools across Europe and beyond to embark on their own journey towards rights-based education.
The conference is organised around two complementary parts:
The Academic Panel will bring together researchers, policymakers, educators, and practitioners to examine how students’ participatory rights can transform education and schools into rights-respecting environments, while also exploring the systemic and policy-level barriers that continue to hinder this shift.
The Practice Lab: From Students Voice to School Change aims to move from reflection to action. In this session, QUEST member schools will share their experiences of adopting student participation practices in their educational settings, inspiring other schools across Europe and beyond to embark on their own journey towards rights-based education.
By bringing together teachers, school leaders, students, academics, policymakers, and educational organizations, the conference will create a space for dialogue to explore new research avenues and practices on how schools and education systems can be truly rooted in students’ rights.
We welcome abstracts for presentations from researchers and practitioners. Presenters are invited to share their work and engage with the conference’s central questions, particularly within Thematic Clusters 2 and 3 (Cluster 1 is already full). Abstracts should be submitted through this form by 25 September 2026.