Gen+ and Rights Respecting Schools
When embedding any programme within school, it’s important that it supports and complements existing activity and supports the setting’s School Improvement Planning. Gen+ aligns perfectly with one of the key focuses within schools – Rights Respecting Schools.
Gen+ provides the foundation for a Rights Respecting School by teaching young people to recognise their skills — enabling confident voice, meaningful participation, and agency. In a Rights Respecting School, children need to feel confident expressing themselves, valued for who they are, and able to participate meaningfully.
The Gen+ programme supports this by explicitly teaching young people to recognise and name their skills — the first and most critical stage of skills development.
Many schools embed children’s rights through values and ethos, evidencing how children experience these rights in daily learning, which can be challenging. Gen+ provides structured, age-appropriate learning that makes learner’s rights visible through voice, participation and skills recognition. Worksheets and reflective questions provide physical evidence of learning and impact.
Not an add-on
Skills recognition isn’t an add-on, it must be a whole-school approach where:
- All teachers use shared skills language
- Skills are recognised across subjects
- Rights-respecting practice is consistent
Gen+ supports Rights Respecting Schools throughout the entire provision
Within primary schools, Gen+ uses the Explorer programme to:
- Make skills visible and shared, supporting children to feel valued and confident
- Embed voice, participation and respect through structured, ready-to-use lessons
- Support inclusive participation, ensuring all children contribute
- Strengthen Health & Wellbeing and P6–P7 transition through skills recognition
- Provide clear evidence of rights-respecting practice through learner reflection
Whilst in secondary schools, Gen+ supports learners in being able to:
- Articulate strengths and interests
- Make informed choices
- Participate confidently in learning, work and society
- Advocate for themselves and others
This directly strengthens the aims of the UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Award, where participation, dignity and respect extend beyond school into adult life.
Gen+ ensures that by the end of S3, learners are not starting from scratch.
- Understand their strengths and areas for development
- Have the language to describe skills and progress
- Are confident reflecting on learning and experience
By teaching young people to recognise and articulate their skills, Gen+ supports a rights-respecting transition where learners:
- Feel ownership over their choices
- Can advocate for themselves
- Enter the senior phase — and life beyond school — with confidence and agency
Gen+ helps young people move from exercising their rights in school to exercising their rights in life — through confidence, voice and self-advocacy.
