This paper presents the ndings of an action research project designed to examine the dynamics of classroom relationships and perceptions of how rights and identities operate in an all boys' comprehensive school in the English West Midlands. The principal aims of the research were to examine the feasibility of adopting a human rights framework as a basis for school life and to evaluate subsequent relationships and identities. The rst section of this paper examines the potential of human rights

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... ucation to promote constructive relationships and manage con ict. It takes the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as its framework for action. We then outline the methodology adopted and consider how the classroom environment affects and is affected by those working within it. We re ect on the expression of identities and understandings of rights and responsibilities in the classroom by both students and teachers and the impact of these understandings and of masculine identities on classroom management. Although we recognise the ndings of action research are necessarily situation speci c and possibly transient and/or changeable, we draw on these ndings to develop a model which may be of value to those seeking to develop schools as human rights communities. 0305-764X print; 1469-3577 online/00/030335-22 Ó