Human Rights and ‘Free and Fair Competition'; the significance of European education legislation for girls in the UK

UK law on education and sex discrimination does not protect the right of girls to equality in education. The European Convention on Human Rights and the Treaty of Rome offer better protection. The Convention provides for the right to education and the right of parents to have their philosophical convictions considered in the education of their child. The European Court of Human Rights’ interpretation of these rights is relevant to those seeking a remedy for sexism in education. The Treaty of Rome has stronger and faster enforcement procedures than the Convention but it makes little provision for education except in vocational training and recognition of qualifications. The form and structure of the EEC legal system nevertheless make it hospitable to a reforming education policy. Educationists need to make sure that the focus on education within the EEC extends beyond vocational training, that the context of the discussion and the definition of education are similar to those of the European Convention and the European Court of Human Rights.     

Lost in Translation: On the Untranslatable and its Ethical Implications for Religious Pluralism

In recent years, there have been reports about increased religious discrimination in schools. As a way of acknowledging the importance of religion and faith communities in the public sphere and to propose a solution to the exclusion of religious citizens, the political philosopher Jürgen Habermas suggests an act of translation for which both secular and religious citizens are mutually responsible. What gets lost in Habermas's translation, this paper argues, is the condition that makes translation both necessary and (im)possible. Drawing on Walter Benjamin's notion of the mysterious untranslatable and the task of the translator, the paper approaches translation as an ethical process involving risk, asymmetry and uncertainty. Not knowing where this risk will lead, the paper takes the ethical ambivalence at play in Jacques Derrida's notion of the untranslatable and explores this in relation to religious difference in education. It argues that the untranslatable needs to be acknowledged in terms of a respect for difference and a limit to narration, if students with religious convictions are not to be further violated in schools.     

Narthical religious learning: redefining religious education in terms of pilgrimage

Religious education at school should be more than just the acquisition of knowledge. It should not only provide cognitive facts on how religious people act according to their moral and religious convictions, but also on how learners can gain as much profit as possible from these facts in order to build their own identity as religious ‘tourists’. Good religious education challenges them also to become ‘pilgrims’ and to allow the ‘slow questions’ of religion to enter into their own life, in all their vulnerability and provisionality. This paper discusses the recent orientation towards religious experience in religious didactics in Western Europe and makes out a case for a mystagogical‐communicative or ‘narthical’ approach to religious learning. This argument is presented against the background of individualisation, pluralisation and detraditionalisation of religion, which is the typical context for young people in their search for meaning today.     

法制进步与宗教改革－欧洲走出中世纪的两大催化剂

关于近代欧洲资本主义兴起的原因，大多数学仅从经济，政治两个角度论述，笔认为还应从法律和宗教两个角度论述，表明法制进步和宗教改革，在欧洲资本主义发展过程中，创造了两种化氛围，对欧洲走出中世纪，步入资本主义起了催化剂的作用。     

A comparison of developments in university continuing education in Finland,the UK and Sweden

This paper develops work carried out under the aegis of a European Commission‐funded university continuing education (UCE) network. It compares the ways in which UCE has developed in three countries within Northern Europe. The authors firstly review the developments of university education in general in Finland, the UK and Sweden, paying particular attention to the factors that historically have influenced UCE. They then focus on developments and policy imperatives of the last decade. A number of convergences and divergences in policy and practice in the three countries are pointed to. In both Finland and the UK, UCE is well defined by state or quasi‐state agencies and is an activity that has been located within well‐defined structural units in most institutions. Universities in these two countries have a diverse mission based on a national lifelong learning agenda. By contrast, in Sweden, whilst there is a longstanding international tradition of adult education rooted within democratic movements and a recognition of the importance of equality of access, the provision is to a large extent embedded in universities and not manifest as UCE. What provision that does exist as UCE is patchily distributed across the university sector and nonuniform in character. UCE provision within Finland and UK to varying degrees in becoming more diverse in its make‐up. The presence of new providers in a ‘CE market’, an emphasis on UCE as an economic instrument, moves towards the accreditation of provision and the loss of a particular identity for UCE are amongst factors creating increasing heterogeneity of provision in these countries.     

The communities providing religious education and catechesis to Polish immigrants in England and Wales

Since Poland’s accession to the European Union in 2004, hundreds of thousands of Polish citizens have arrived in the UK in search of work, of which the majority landed in England and Wales. This process, although not as fast now, is still ongoing. The majority of immigrants from Poland are young people who start families and have children. Many of these children are born in the UK. For this reason, it is increasingly common for the children of Polish immigrants to be covered by the local school system. In addition to general knowledge, they also have the right to religious education and catechesis. This article presents a summary of the communities providing religious education and catechesis to Polish migrants living in England and Wales. It describes the specific features of religious education in state-run schools, Catholic schools and Polish Saturday Schools. The objectives of parish catechesis conducted by the Polish Catholic missions operating in England and Wales are also outlined. The primary objective of this discussion is to present the various options for religious education and catechesis for the children of Polish immigrants living in England and Wales.     

爱尔兰分离主义探源

英国与爱尔兰的关系是从中世纪直到现今为止最复杂、最棘手的问题。其矛盾可追溯到种族、宗教、政治经济等多个方面。天主教、英国国教和新教虽都属基督教，但相互之间分歧不小：英格兰征服爱尔兰及对其大片土地的没收，造成英国外在地主与爱尔兰佃农的尖锐冲突。美国、法国共和主义的胜利和影响，激发了爱尔兰人两个世纪多的反英斗争。而北爱问题则主要由于苏格兰移民的进入以及近代工业的发展。     

Managerialism, Organizational Commitment, and Quality of Job Performances among European University Employees

To achieve efficient and effective quality improvement, European universities have gradually adopted organizational strategies, structures, technologies, management instruments, and values that are commonly found in the private business sector. Whereas some studies have shown that such managerialism is beneficial to the quality of job performances of university employees, others have argued that managerialism is largely counterproductive and that it results in lower performances. The latter situation is called a ‘managerialism contradiction’. This paper tests two lines of reasoning underlying a potential contradiction governing the relationship between managerialism and job performances, while using university employee survey data from six European countries (Belgium, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, UK). The results tend to support the assumption that managerialism, in these six countries at least, has a positive effect, albeit a modest one, on the quality of performances. The most important conclusion is therefore that there is no managerialism contradiction at work in European universities.     

Selective News Exposure,Personal Values,and Support for the Iraq War

News media coverage of the Iraq war plays a significant role in informing the public about the war event itself. This study examined whether exposure to different news sources had an impact on the public's opinion on the war starting from the initial military-action phase through the early postwar period. It also explored how the public's patriotic values, political orientations, and religious convictions influenced the relations between their news source exposure and support for (or opposition to) the war.     

Governing religious and value diversity in European urban spaces

This paper places religious and value diversity in education in the context of (a) the relation of religion to the state; (b) the relation of the contemporary European state to modernity and secularisation; and (c) the relation of religious education to specific communities and community practices. It raises these issues drawing on recent educational and non-educational research relating to several European countries. Secularist ways of construing issues of religious diversity have existed alongside concern with the increasing multicultural nature of society. Education, both state-supported and non-state-supported, of ethnic/religious minorities is of crucial importance. The categorisation of religious belief as an essentially private matter raises the question of the content of religious instruction in schools. It can also have an impact on the different ways in which greater democratic participation for ethnic minority groups is achieved.     

The Norwegian Christianity,Religion and Philosophy subject KRL in Strasbourg

This article presents the judgement and dissent of the European Court of Human Rights in the Case of Folgerø and others v. Norway regarding the subject Christianity, Religion and Philosophy (KRL) in Norwegian state schools. The verdict, reached with dissenting votes of 9–8, states that parents’ freedom of ensuring their children an education in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions is violated in KRL. The article also discusses a possible way of thinking in the process of creating a common, unifying subject for teaching about religions and beliefs in the Norwegian state school system.     

Some sources for the history of educational periodicals in England

ABSTRACT

This paper challenges a foundational conjecture of the Religion in Education Dialogue or Conflict (REDCo) project, that increased interest in religion in public and political life as manifested particularly in education is evidence of counter-secularisation. The paper argues that rather than representing counter-secularisation, such developments represent an emergent and secularising European civil religion facilitated through European religious education.     

RELIGIOUS PARTICULARISM AND CULTURAL PLURALISM: THE POSSIBLE CONTRIBUTION OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION TO CANADIAN POLITICAL IDENTITY

Abstract

Multiculturalism is official Canadian policy. In the context of postmodernism, pluralism has taken on a sharper meaning, particularly with regard to identity. What can possibly unify a diverse nation like Canada? Does the separation of religion from public life make sense when cultural identity includes religious expression? Political unity, religious diversity, and the common search for and establishment of justice could become the essential building blocks toward an integral political unity. In particular, the celebration of religious diversity in Canada's schools could become a primary means of political unity as well as an essential means of unifying society. Five convictions are developed which help secure a new relationship among religious education, religious diversity, and political and societal unity.     

Group Identity,Individual Autonomy and Education for Human Rights

The United Nations Declarations of Human Rights (1948) express an ideal for the protection of cultural rights of everyone. They propose an education that is multicultural and non‐discriminatory and recognise that parents have the right to choose their children's education. Article 13.3 of the International covenant on Economic and Social and Cultural Rights gave parents the right to choose for their children “schools other than those established by public authorities to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions”. The paper feels uneasy with this principle that grants parents the right to educate their children in conformity with their own convictions. Such rights could result in restricting the education of children to the narrow framework of parental beliefs and values that could be antithetical to social harmony, individual autonomy and equal opportunity. The question is, should such a right be extended to all parents including those who believe in racial superiority, in apartheid, Nazism or Fascism or in the inherent intellectual differences between boys and girls? The paper discusses some of these issues and asks how can the best interests of the child be served in a pluralist, multicultural, multiracial society. The paper acknowledges that in a pluralistic democratic society there will always be tensions between the public interests, the interests of the group and the interests or autonomy of the individual. These interests are discussed within the framework of fundamental human rights, common or separate schooling and multicultural education. The paper sees these as interrelated issues which are connected with group identity and equal opportunity. Where these interrelated issues conflict, the paper takes the stance that the rights and the autonomy of the individual should take precedence over the others, especially if the notion of human rights and human dignity is to be preserved in practice. This is obviously a controversial issue and the hope is that the paper will open up these issues for further discussion and debate.     

Religious affiliation,ethnicity, and power in admission policies to Jewish religious schools

This paper analyzes the challenges embedded in the conflict between the right to accessible education, which implies a prohibition on discriminatory practices in school admission, and the right to adaptable education, which accommodates children’s cultural affiliations. It shows that a normative lens, which examines the ways by which legal rules correspond to conflicting rights and interests, cannot fully capture the tension between legal prohibitions on discrimination in education and the sociocultural norms in religious communities. Thus, the paper offers a socio-legal lens, which focuses on the context of admission policies to Jewish religious schools. Based on three test cases of admission policies to Jewish religious schools in Israel, England, and Flanders, Belgium, the paper demonstrates how the legal rules regulating the admission policies are influenced by social forces. In Israel and England, these forces have facilitated a descent down slippery slope, originating with religious criteria, but concluding with discriminatory criteria. They also shaped admission practices reflecting the asymmetric power relations between the institutional school systems and individual families. The paper highlights the benefits of the Belgian policy, which proscribes religious classification of school candidates. This policy circumvents the ambiguous distinction between religion, ethnicity, and social class, and expands educational choices.     

欧洲大陆国家保守主义就业政策分析

面对持续的高失业、凯恩斯主义就业政策失灵和全球化的迅速发展等共同挑战,法国、西班牙等欧洲大陆国家,并没有像英美国家那样选择新自由主义的就业政策,也没有像瑞典等北欧国家那样选择合作主义的就业政策,而是选择了一种以维持传统欧洲社会模式、缩减劳动供给和劳动力市场边缘灵活化改革为基本特征的保守主义就业政策。这种保守主义就业政策的选择,从根源上来讲,是与欧洲大陆国家社会团结主义的历史文化传统、保守主义的福利国家制度、以国家为主导的社会治理结构和其政治可行性相适应的。在现实中,这种保守主义就业政策的实施在保持欧洲大陆国家社会凝聚力与和谐的同时,也面临着平衡劳动力市场灵活性与安全性的严峻挑战。     

Religious justification,elitist outcome: are religious schools being used to avoid integration?

Despite ongoing efforts to promote ethnic, racial and socio-economic integration, segregation continues to challenge education administrators and legal scholars. Privileged parents seeking to avoid integration employ various strategies such as attending private schools or buying houses in neighbourhoods with good school. This paper offers a combined empirical and legal research of another such strategy: the resort to religious schools. The research is conducted within one specific context, that of Israeli Religious State Schools. The empirical study examines whether “Torani” religious state schools (a category of religious schools that offer enhanced Jewish studies and a strict religious environment) induce socio-economic segregation. The findings indicate that “Torani” schools are indeed socio-economically segregated and serve children from higher socioeconomic class than regular religious state schools. It also shows that “Torani” schools are less reflective of their surroundings than regular religious state schools, and are more likely to be established by privileged parents in poor areas, where they are dissatisfied with the local state schools. The legal research offers an explanation of how legal regulation can determine whether religious schools will become a means for avoiding integration. Specifically, it points to three areas in which “Torani” schools are regulated differently than regular religious state schools – the rules regarding the establishment of new schools; the rules concerning school funding; and the rules concerning student enrolment – and argues that special treatment meant to protect religious interests is responsible for making “Torani” schools socially segregated.     

The early career paths of UK-educated intra-European mobile graduates

Students and graduates alike are encouraged to enhance their skills and knowledge by moving to a different European country as both national governments and European institutions anticipate individual skill gains, closer European networks and a boost to national economies as a result. Using data from a longitudinal survey, this paper follows UK-educated intra-European mobile graduates from undergraduate courses into employment, further study or other activities, and compares their early pathway with graduates who remained in the UK (UK stayer). UK-educated mobile graduates are divided into three groups according to their residency and location after their undergraduate course: UK nationals moving to a different European country (UK movers); nationals of other European countries returning to their home country (returners); and nationals of other European countries moving to a third European country (other mobile graduates). Empirical findings show that mobility for UK movers is mainly employment-driven whilst mobility of returners and other mobile graduates is education-driven. However, if employed, UK-educated mobile graduates are more likely to work in skill-appropriate occupations compared to UK stayers. The transition to either employment or further study of most UK-educated mobile graduates does not take longer compared to UK stayers.