NCTE Leaders Participate in Roundtable on Book Bans and Educational Censorship in Washington, DC, Convened by United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, Farida Shaheed
April 29, 2024
NCTE leaders have been invited to our nation’s capital this week to participate in a roundtable on book bans and educational censorship in public schools across the country. The roundtable is being held in the context of the official visit to the US by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, Farida Shaheed.
The visit will focus on academic freedom and safety at all levels of education and access to public education from kindergarten to 12th grade without discrimination.
“Lifting our members’ voices on intellectual freedom and educational censorship is core to our mission and passion to improve the teaching and learning of English and language arts,” said Emily Kirkpatrick, NCTE’s Executive Director. “Having the United Nations involved in this work expresses how core the right to read is to all people.”
To learn more about NCTE’s position on the freedom to read, visit our Intellectual Freedom Center, which offers information and resources on censorship.
Attending from NCTE are Emily Kirkpatrick, Executive Director; Sarah Miller, Senior Coordinator of Book Initiatives and Intellectual Freedom; and Ann D. David, Chair of NCTE’s Standing Committee Against Censorship. The roundtable will provide the UN Special Rapporteur with important inputs for the forthcoming report on the right to education in the country.
The roundtable will be divided into three parts. The first part will take place in person and will consist of advocates and organizations working to preserve and protect the right to education specifically in K–12 in the US. The second part will take place via Zoom and will include an in-depth study of Florida as an exemplar of censorial and discriminatory policies and practices. The roundtable concludes with a third panel that amplifies the voices and experiences of directly affected individuals—from teachers and students to administrators and librarians. NCTE is coordinating one of these meetings to center the experiences of NCTE members across multiple states who will share their stories in a protected environment.
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The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) is the nation’s professional organization for literacy teachers spanning preK through college. Through the expertise and advocacy from its members’ professional research, practice, and knowledge, NCTE has served at the forefront of every major improvement in the teaching and learning of English and the language arts since 1911.
For more information, please visit www.ncte.org