Our Values and Principles
Camtree’s work is underpinned by commitments to a coherent set of international declarations, conventions and frameworks
Camtree is a global community in which knowledge about educational practice is shared for the benefit of learners, teachers and the collective good. It exists in order to improve education and learning, and to contribute to improved quality of life of learners, who are its primary stakeholders.
Camtree has developed the following statement of principles, grounded in and guided by international declarations, conventions and frameworks. While these may refer to ‘teachers’ and ‘children’, Camtree holds that these principles apply to all educators, regardless of the educational setting in which they are practising; and to all learners, whether they are described as ‘children’, ‘pupils’, or ‘students’.
Rights, Equality and Diversity
Camtree will promote, uphold and act in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (see below for relevant extracts), as well as to international law governing human rights and intellectual property, and enter into research collaborations, partnerships and contracts only with organisations which explicitly make the same commitments.
Camtree will not enter into contracts or partnerships with organisations or individuals who are in breach of international law.
Camtree is committed to eliminating unlawful discrimination and promoting equality and diversity in our own policies, practices and procedures. Camtree aims to treat everyone equally and with the same attention, courtesy and respect. We are committed to complying, in both letter and spirit, with anti-discrimination legislation and associated codes of practice in force either now or in the future.
As such, Camtree will not accept works into the Camtree Digital Library which espouse views or describe practices which are in breach of the international conventions and declarations listed above, which seek to justify discriminatory practices, or which use discriminatory language.
Education, Global Challenges and Sustainable Development
Camtree is committed to support educational practices which seek to overcome global challenges and contribute to a sustainable future. Its practices are guided by the Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (see below for relevant extracts).
In line with the Incheon Declaration, Camtree considers educators to be experts in their knowledge of learners and learning in their own classrooms and contexts, capable of critiquing and developing their own practices and those of others. It recognises that educators are agents of change and Camtree will provide resources and digital tools to support them in this role. Educators, whether teachers, lecturers, supervisors, mentors or coaches, are also learners, and teacher inquiry is a key part of educator learning.
Camtree considers knowledge about teaching and learning to be a global public good. Accordingly, Camtree membership is available free of charge to individual educators, and the outcomes of educator inquiries will be shared free of charge through the Camtree Digital Library.
Research Integrity
Camtree is committed to the principles of research integrity set out in the World Conferences on Research Integrity ‘Singapore Statement’ (2010) and by the Committee on Publication Ethics, and will implement these in its training, guidance and peer-review processes.
As such, Camtree will not accept works into the Camtree Digital Library which are in breach of these principles, or which infringe the rights of others as set out in the international declarations and conventions previously mentioned.
Licensing, Curation and Open Access
Camtree will publish works in the Camtree Digital Library under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 ‘Attribution’ licence, by default. This specific licence has been selected as it enables the widest possible sharing and reuse of library resources while requiring the attribution or citation of the original author.
Camtree will manage and curate works in the Camtree Digital Library in accordance with our End User Agreement which sets out responsibilities of contributors, and Camtree as curator of library content, as well as a ‘take-down’ policy in the event of complaints.
Camtree will publish the outcomes of its own research in accordance with the principles of the Budapest Open Access Initiative (2001) that is, in the Camtree Digital Library, or open-access journals via ‘Gold’ open access routes, or ‘Green’ open access routes which allow publication of pre-prints in the Camtree Digital Library or other digital repository.
What this means for you
Camtree partners, clients and members* are required to :
Commit to promote, uphold and act in accordance with the international conventions and declarations listed above as well as international law governing human rights and intellectual property.
Commit to the principles set out in the World Conferences on Research Integrity ‘Singapore Statement’ (2010), and by the Committee on Publication Ethics; that is, by upholding honesty, accountability, professional courtesy and fairness in working with others, good stewardship of research on behalf of others, and to implement these principles within any digital library collection for which they are responsible.
Act in accordance with both the letter and the spirit of publication under an Creative Commons Attribution licence. While sharing of knowledge is intrinsic to the aims of Camtree, the work and contribution of others should be appropriately acknowledged.
And, when participating in courses and collaborative platforms, including online forums, discussion boards, email lists and other forms of communication, be respectful and constructive. In line with the aims of Camtree, contributions should be offered in the spirit of helping to improve or build on others’ work, not in order to target an individual or group with personal criticism.
*‘Partners and Clients’ is taken to include partner organisations involved in pilot or substantive project work in which Camtree is a partner or service provider; clients who have entered into any contractual arrangement with Camtree; and clients who have been provided with administrative or ownership roles in a Camtree web domain, or digital library community or collection. ‘Members’ is taken to mean individual members of Camtree and Camtree partner organisations and domains; participants in Camtree activities, whether online or face-to-face; and publishers of research reports and other materials within the Camtree Digital Library.
