Human Rights Day Tutorial Resource

Human Rights Day tutorial resource

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A ready-made Navigate tutorial pack for Human Rights Day, observed annually on 10 December. The 2025 theme is Human Rights, Our Everyday Essentials.

How to use this resource

This is a ready-made Navigate resource pack intended for use within college tutorials or sessions. You are welcome to use it as provided or adapt it to suit your college and students. It is available in both PowerPoint and Canva formats. Please ensure that all activities are recorded on Navigate against each participating student.

1. Choose your icebreaker from the three options at the end of the pack.
2. Review the tutor notes to understand the background and purpose of the topic.
3. Follow the session plan — use the 30–35 minute plan as your guide.
4. Deliver using the slides and resources, working through input, activity and reflection slides in order.

Topic context (tutor notes)

Human Rights Day commemorates the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948. The Declaration enshrines the inalienable rights everyone is entitled to, regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, opinion, origin, property, birth or status. The 2025 campaign aims to re-engage people with human rights by showing how they shape our daily lives — emphasising that human rights are positive, essential and attainable.

Session plan (30–35 minutes)

1. Starter — icebreaker (5–7 mins): choose one of the three options below.
2. Main tutor input (10 mins): introduce what human rights are and what the day marks — safety, education, equality, privacy and freedom of expression — and why they matter to young people.
3. Main class activity (15 mins): in small groups, work through 2–3 scenarios and feed back.
4. Reflection and wrap (5–8 mins): use the reflection questions and log learning on Navigate.

Introduction

What is Human Rights Day? An international day on 10 December marking the anniversary of the UDHR, adopted by the UN in 1948, which sets out the fundamental rights and freedoms every person is entitled to. It is celebrated to raise awareness of rights such as equality, freedom, safety and education; promote their protection worldwide; encourage people to take action; and reflect on progress since 1948.

Learning objectives — understand what Human Rights Day is and why it matters, explore how human rights affect your daily life as a young person in the UK, take part in a group activity, and reflect on why rights need protecting.

Why does it matter?

Human rights link directly to everyday experiences: your right to education, your right to safety at college, your right to fair treatment regardless of background, your right to privacy online, your right to have a voice in decisions affecting your life, and your right to future work opportunities.

Main activity: group scenarios

Each group receives 2–3 scenarios and decides: Which human right is involved? Was the right protected or violated? Why does this matter for young people in the UK? What should happen next? Example scenarios include youth clubs closing due to budget cuts, a bus route to college being removed, AI job-screening that disadvantages young people, a student suspended for wearing natural hair in braids, unannounced CCTV in common areas, and lessons being recorded to "monitor teaching quality".

Icebreaker options

Option 1 — Would you rather? Students move across the room to show their choice between two options (for example, having online activity monitored by your school or by the government; losing social media for a year or having every post reviewed first; choosing any career or being guaranteed a high salary with no choice).

Option 2 — Protected or violated? Decide whether rights were protected or violated in each scenario — e.g. a wheelchair user made to use stairs (violated: accessibility and non-discrimination), a stop-and-search based on skin colour (violated: equality and fair treatment), a teacher refusing a student's chosen name (violated: respect, identity and equality), and an app asking permission before accessing photos (protected: data privacy).

Option 3 — Human rights in the news. Decide whether headlines are real or fake and where they happened — including TikTok creators arrested in Somalia (freedom of expression), the Taliban banning girls' secondary education in Afghanistan (right to education and gender equality), and increased UK live facial-recognition monitoring (right to privacy and data protection).

Reflection and wrap-up

• Which scenario stood out to you most and why?
• Why do you think some rights are easier to protect than others?
• What rights affect your everyday life the most?
• How can you protect not just your own rights, but others' too?

Encourage students to log their learning and reflections on Navigate. Prompts include: What did you learn today? What skills have you developed? What did you find interesting or challenging? How can this help you in the future?

Source files attached below.