아동권리협약상 학생의 의견청문권 실현을 위한 교육법제 개선방안

Legal Improvements to Implement Students’ Right to be Heard under the Convention on the Rights of the Child

아동의 의견청문권은 대한민국을 포함한 전세계 196개국이 비준 또는 가입한 아동권리협약이 보장하는 기본원칙이자 주요한 아동의 권리 중 하나이다. 아동의 의견청문권은 자신의 의견을 형성할 능력이 있는 아동의 경우 자신과 관계된 일에 있어서 자유롭게 의견을 표명하고 이러한 의견은 충분히 고려되어져야 한다는 것이다. 학교가 작은 사회로서 아동이 인권을 배우고 경험하는 중요한 장소라는 측면에서 아동의 의견청문권은 특히 학교에서 충분히 보장되어야 한다. 본 연구는 교육과정 및 학교 프로그램 계획 과정에서의 학생의 의견청문권 존중, 학교운영위원회에 학생의 참여 및 의견 수렴, 교육정책 수립에 있어서 학생의 참여 그리고 학생지도절차에 있어서 학생의 의견청문권 보장 측면에서 교육법제의 현황 및 향후 개선방안을 검토하여 보고자 한다.

Children s right to be heard is the principle and one of the most important rights of children guaranteed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has been ratified or accessed by 196 countries including the Republic of Korea. Children s right to be heard is that “the child who is capable of forming his or her own views” is entitled to “the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child” and those views must be “due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.” Children s right to be heard should be fully guaranteed, especially in schools, in that schools are the important places for children to learn and experience human rights. Unfortunately, students right to be heard is not fully implemented in Korea. Although the Korean education law does not explicitly stipulate the right to be heard, it can be interpreted that children s right to be heard is also guaranteed through the Article 6 Clause 1 of the Constitution, the Article 18 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Article 12 of the Framework Act on Education, and the Article 3 of the Framework Act on Youth. Nevertheless, there is considerable skepticism about the practical realization of the right because the detailed legislative methods or procedures are not provided. Therefore, this study aims to propose the following legislative measures to improve the right to be heard in schools. First, the relevant laws should be revised towards providing how to ensure students participation in school committees or how to collect students opinions regarding school programs in order to respect their right to be heard in the curriculum and school program planning processes. Second, students should be able to participate in school committees by referring to foreign educational laws. However, given that students’ participation in the committees can be realized differently depending on the relevance of the issue to the child and in accordance with the age and maturity of the child, it may be possible to vary this participation according to the issue and according to the school level. Third, a regular procedure for collecting students opinions should be established. However, it would be reasonable to establish the legal methods step by step through enforcement decrees and enforcement rules according to the case and the scope of the subject matter. Finally, in addition to five-types of disciplinary measures under the current law, students should be given the opportunities to express their opinions in all kinds of disciplinary procedures. In particular, the current law which does not discern students’ right to be heard from parents’ right to be heard should be revised.