Independently from one another, three students applied for the
same internship. They found it on the list supplied to students of
the master's track Ethics of Education. The goal of the internship,
which is a joint project of UNICEF and The Hague University of
Applied Sciences, is to design and deliver a toolbox to assess the
best interest of the child as laid down in the United Nations
Convention of the Rights of the Child.
Annapoorna and Milena share how they experienced this
internship. For Annapoorna Ananda Kumar (27, India) this project
immediately seemed a perfect fit. She did a bachelor's in law, and
she desires to do something that connects law and education in some
way. Milena Lauer (24, Germany) has a pedagogical background and
some practical experience in that field. Although it was not what
she planned, she decided to make use of the opportunity to try out
research.
Only at the first meeting as a team in February, the students
realized that they were not joining an existing team in a set
research project. The three students were in that team.
The project has four phases, and they were in phase one: start-up,
research, analysis and putting the elements together. The end
product will be a web-based toolbox for all contexts, not just for
a specific group of children, but for basically everyone that has
to make decisions for children. A toolbox that considers how to
weigh different interests and focuses on ethical and moral
models.
Attending a conference session of the UN Committee on the Rights
of the Child really kicked off the project. The Netherlands was one
of the five countries that presented its reports. The interns
joined the proceedings online for two days. They found it very
inspiring to see on the inside how this branch of the UN works.
Afterwards, they spoke with a UNICEF representative who sent them
the Dutch report. Some 14 weeks later, the students presented the
outcome of their work to UNICEF.
In those weeks, they worked on their research individually,
discussed their findings as a team, and had weekly online meetings
with their onsite supervisor, dr Laurence Guérin. The toolbox
designed by the Netherlands' Ombudsman for Children served as a
starting point for their research.
A: ‘Although we could apply a lot of what
we had learnt in the master's courses before we started the
internship, it was still quite scary because we had to start from
scratch. No one knew what was already out there. We had to find out
which countries did have toolboxes, and of course, language was a
limitation, too. Therefore, we looked at the countries we spoke the
language. Besides in English, we could look for toolboxes in Hindi,
German and Greek. There was a period we were somewhat confused
about how our research would turn out. In the first few months,
even though dr Guérin would confirm we were on the right
track, I had this thing lurking in the back of my mind. “We
are creating something real here. Will our research work
out?” It felt like a very responsible task.'
M: ‘Yes, it was kind of scary. We did not
know how many toolboxes we would find, so we also looked for
articles and papers on how to assess the best interest of the child
and studied those. Doing the project was up and down, from very
scary and feeling ‘I am inexperienced' to actually presenting
our work and feeling very proud that we found so many things.
Looking back, I think we could have expressed our doubts earlier.
Only a few weeks before the presentation I asked dr
Guérín: “Do you really trust us to present to
UNICEF? Are you sure what we did will be beneficial in any
way?” She reassured us that everything we did would be an
addition to the existing toolbox. She pointed out that what we did
with the ethical models was not there at all. Therefore, when
things became more practical, dr Guérín guided us a lot.
She gave feedback on the presentation and commented on the
documents. The first phase, doing the research was overwhelming and
intense for us. The distance did not make it easier. With dr
Guérín working in The Hague, meeting online was practical
and it did work well. I think we could have been more resourceful
in asking for help. Like setting up an extra meeting to discuss our
worries, and be more open about our insecurities from the start. I
will take that with me in future experiences.'
A: ‘I can relate to that very much. We
could have looked for more options maybe to verify where our
position was in terms of research. The stress was also good because
it made us look harder and maybe we found more because of it. We
have now built up the confidence that even if you initially are
confused, you will figure out where you are in your research. And,
once we started analyzing the toolboxes we found in different
countries, and extracted elements to use in the new toolbox, it
became so interesting! I knew there is a gap between policies and
laws, and how laws are implemented. Well, what we did in this
internship is about bridging that gap. We worked at the middle
point, where you make laws more feasible for professionals that
have to make use of those laws. To provide professionals like
teachers, educators, and social workers an easier understanding of
how to apply the law in the best way possible, because they might
not know how to do that. This was a very good insight for me.'
M: ‘I think I have a better understanding
of the everyday practice of research. Research is a task you grow
into, not something you are expected to know right away. I learnt
that, when starting, researchers do not always have a clear idea of
what to do. They try to find something out and research requires a
lot of teamwork. You have to address things, again and again, just
have a go and think about it.'
A: ‘Yes, working individually and as a
team was also a great experience. Coming from different countries
and having different educational backgrounds, we learnt so much
from each other. Each of us analyzed the first two tools and found
that from different perspectives we noticed and addressed different
things. As a team, you learn things together.'
M: ‘I found that the more practical the
work became, the more fun I had. In this first phase of the
project, we did the research, and the analysis and then we looked a
little bit into the next phase, which is designing. I had so much
fun with graphic design and skilled myself in making something that
is in your head visible to others. The best part of the project for
me was the final presentation and knowing that at that moment, you
are the expert. In university, you feel that the professor is
probably still the expert; they have done it so many times and
probably heard it all before. However, with this presentation, we
were the experts. Getting questions and critical comments from
UNICEF was such a nice experience. This is not something you are
graded on, it is a completely different quality of work, I think. I
learnt how to turn research into a practical thing. That
translation for me was new.'
A: ‘This project showed me another option
of how to combine education and law. This bridging of the gap, I
spoke of earlier. I eventually want to go back to India. This
experience gave me a new foundation to go further in things I have
been involved in in the past, like the implementation of education
policy and working on holistic education.'
M: ‘I am a little bummed that the project
is over for us now. We will have a meeting with our university
supervisor who assesses our reports. The next cohort of students
will go on with the toolbox. They will work with software
designers, make the website, and try it out with teachers. Then
research and the actual practice will be connected even more. I
think that is going to be very interesting. Even though I found the
practical part more fun, I do not regret doing the research part. I
found it very interesting and learnt a lot about my research
abilities. I can see myself doing some more research, but not
forever. After gaining some practical experience in education, I
think I would like to teach at a university and combine practical
knowledge with research and teaching.
