The quest for cognitive justice: towards a pluriversal human rights education

This paper turns to the work of the Portuguese sociologist Boaventura de Sousa Santos and explores how a set of concepts he developed over the years may constitute valuable tools in the task of decolonising and pluriversalising Human Rights Education (HRE). Informed by decolonial theory, Santos highlights that the struggle for global social justice is inseparable from the struggle for cognitive justice, namely, the recognition of epistemic diversity. This paper makes a contribution to the efforts that view the pluriversalisation of HRE as inextricable parts of the wider task of decolonising knowledge and education and struggling for social justice.     

美国大学教师的学术自由权利:历史的视角

美国大学教师的学术自由权利经历了"学院时代"与"大学时代"两大历史时期的发展。美国大学教师学术自由权利的争取过程,同时也是赋予学术自由权利以认识论和政治论意义的过程。历史证明,学术自由权利是保障大学教师从事知识创新与探索活动的基本权利,是保护教学与研究工作免受各种不合理干扰和限制的必要权利,是赋予大学教师适当社会地位和必要经济保障的重要权利,也是一项与学术责任相伴生的有限权利。     

Teaching with ignorance: Questions of social justice,empathy, and responsible community

This paper explores the limitations of empathy for the formation of community, particularly within social justice education. I begin with a discussion of the major tension within the idea of community — that it is founded at once on commonality and difference. Building in particular upon the work of Emmanuel Levinas, the paper articulates an understanding of community as a signifying encounter with difference that is not founded upon knowledge about the other, but upon a being-for and feeling-for the other. Focusing upon the explicitly educational commitment to working out forms of relationality conducive to establishing community and social justice across social differences, I ask how might teaching with ignorance, as opposed to teaching for empathy, bring us closer to the being-for others that marks our ethical engagement with other people and engenders our responsibility to the collective?     

自治·自由·责任:马克斯·韦伯的大学观

针对20世纪前后德国大学面临的难题和危机,马克斯.韦伯以其独特的学术视野分析了危害德国大学自治、学术自由的根源,反对大学的官僚化制度,捍卫大学自治和学术自由的传统,恪守大学讲坛上“价值中立”,呼吁学者们树立以学术为志业的责任感等。韦伯的大学理念无疑有助于我们进一步深化对现代大学本质及特征的认识和理解。     

Social Studies Education as a Moral Activity: Teaching towards a just society

Many competing ideas exist around teaching ‘standard’ high school social studies subjects such as history, government, geography, and economics. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of social studies teaching and learning as a moral activity. I first propose that current high school curriculum standards in the United States often fail in focusing on the kinds of sustained discourse and ideas necessary for students to develop an awareness and commitment to justice in a pluralistic society. I then make the argument that understanding social studies as an inherently moral activity creates a space for transformative and meaningful learning to occur. Lastly, I contend that public schools are inextricably linked to understanding and creating elements of a just society and as such, hold equal potential to both support and severely hinder its development.     

Academic freedom,university governance and the state: the Commission of Inquiry into the Hong Kong Institute of Education

In 2007, a Judicial Commission of Inquiry was established by the Government of Hong Kong to investigate allegations that senior officials had interfered with the academic freedom and institutional autonomy of the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd). It concluded that a former minister had requested the President of that institution to curb the criticisms of Government policies by two of his colleagues. The report had significant ramifications including the resignation of the former minister. This article initially describes the background to the Inquiry and subsequently analyses why the situation escalated and resulted in the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry. The explanation focuses on the inherent weaknesses of the system of Governance, the political ecology of Hong Kong and recent changes to the political system.     

Jesuit promotion of social justice. Social justice action at Jesuit universities in Spain,as assessed by teaching and research staff

A substantive and differentiating element of the Jesuits’ university paradigm is the promotion of social justice. The results of a telephone poll conducted amongst professors and researchers convey the initiatives to further social justice that Jesuit universities in Spain have been carrying out primarily since the 1990s. Although still a limited presence, respondents largely favour continuing said initiatives.     

Education and the Face of the Other: Levinas,Camus and (mis)understanding

Abstract

Among the most neglected of Albert Camus’ literary works is his play The misunderstanding. Composed while Camus was in exile in occupied France, and first performed on stage in 1944, The misunderstanding depicts the events that unfold when a man returns, without declaring his identity, to a home he left 20 years ago. Unrecognized, he is killed by his mother and sister for financial gain. This article draws on ideas from Emmanuel Levinas in identifying and discussing some of the key ethical and educational themes in the text. It is argued that the forms of misunderstanding evident in Camus’ play mirror those exhibited in pedagogical institutions such as schools. The misunderstanding demonstrates that what is often missing in our communicative relations is careful attention to the Other. Camus does not offer us any easy way out when confronting the impossibility of fully knowing ourselves and others; instead, he shows that we must acknowledge the suffering this brings and take responsibility for it.     

The community of those who have nothing in common: Education and the language of responsibility

In this paper I explore different ways to understand the idea of community. Using the work of Alphonso Lingis, I make a distinction between the rational community and the community of those who have nothing in common. The latter community is the community in which we are all strangers for each other. I argue that the language of the latter community is the language of responsibility. It is this language that enables us to speak with our own, unique and individual voice. I argue that education and educators should be concerned with the latter form of speaking. Therefore, the community without community, which exists as the interruption of the rational community, is the most important, and ultimately the only relevant educational community.     

Disabling discourses and human rights law: a case study based on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities

This article examines the symbolic power of language to construct and convey disabling discourses, albeit ample rhetoric, on the need to reinstate and safeguard disabled people's human rights and entitlements. The role of language and its discursive ramifications need to be explored and problematized in the light of legal mandates and antidiscrimination legislation to abolish stigmatizing and exclusionary regimes on the grounds of disability. Such a critical engagement necessitates a reflective knowledge and constant interrogation of the ways in which language is implicated in power interplays to construct meanings and to legitimize/conceal existing power inequities. The article uses critical discourse analysis in order to discuss the role of language in the construction, sustenance, and dissemination of disabling discourses, taking as an example the First Report of Cyprus on the Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.     

Girls' and boys' reasoning on cultural and religious practices: a human rights education perspective

Human rights play a vital role in citizens' political, religious and cultural life (Wang 2002, 171). Due to the prominence of human rights in the everyday life of citizens, including those of South Africa, human rights education has been included in many school curricula. Human rights education aims to develop responsible citizens who inter alia foster an understanding of gender, ethnical, religious and cultural diversities. This, it is hoped will encourage and maintain peace, as outlined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Departing from a human rights position, a qualitative study commenced in 2009 to explore how girls and boys reason about the cultural and religious practices of girls in their communities and families. Narratives by girls and boys highlighted their views on girls' positioning in their specific communities. From the findings it became evident that the participants were aware of conforming to particular cultural and religious practices. However, some participants also challenged how they perceived these practices and the roles of girls in their communities. The article highlights the necessity of embarking on a gendered perspective towards human rights education.     

Human rights,cosmopolitanism and utopias: implications for citizenship education

Citizenship education, defined as learning to live together, requires agreement on certain common principles. One central purpose of a state education system is the transmission of common normative standards such as the human rights and fundamental freedoms that underpin liberal democratic societies. The paper identifies the conceptual roots of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in the sociological concept of utopia and Enlightenment cosmopolitanism. In the UDHR, the vision of freedoms that may promote human flourishing provides a precise way of conceptualising limits on state power. Whilst human rights is not a general theory, the concept has the hugely beneficial property of enabling people whose value systems are diverse and apparently incompatible, nonetheless to recognise and accept common standards and principles that make living in society possible. The implications of this are that human rights education is rightfully recognised as an essential component of citizenship education.     

Neoliberal versus social justice reforms in education policy and practice: discourses,politics and disability rights in education

This article uses critical discourse analysis in order to discuss the equity and social justice implications of an envisaged education reform agenda in Cyprus, as articulated by two consultation reports commissioned by the World Bank. The reports highlight, inter alia, the imperative to improve teaching and enhance accountability regimes with regard to students’ learning. Selected extracts from these documents are analyzed in order to highlight the absence of a social justice discourse in the rhetoric of educational reforms, despite the alleged centrality of a social justice discourse in official policy. The reports fail to include issues of social justice and learner diversity in discussing the necessity to strengthen the existing teacher policy framework and to mobilize structural educational reforms. This omission is indicative of the neoliberal imperatives that drive the envisaged education policy reforms as well as the low priority attributed to issues of equity and learner diversity, with particular reference to students designated as having special educational needs and/or disabilities.     

The freedom of religion and the freedom of education in twenty-first-century Belgium: a critical approach

In spite of recent tendencies of secularisation and religious pluralism, most Belgian schools are Catholic schools, where Roman Catholic religious education is a compulsory subject. As we will argue, this can lead to a de facto undermining of the freedom of religion and education and a shift in the system is therefore required. In the long term, the number of Catholic schools should be in proportion with the number of students/parents choosing these schools. In the short term, however, this strategy is not recommended and for pragmatic reasons, we propose a system in which religious education in substantially subsidised faith-based schools is no longer compulsory. We will argue that such a system does not lead to an infringement of the (internal) freedom of religion of faith-based institutions and that it will guarantee more educational and religious freedom than the current system does.     

Rights-based education and conflict: a cross-national study of rights discourse in textbooks

This paper investigates the extent to which rights-based education is utilised in textbooks from conflict-affected countries. Drawing on a unique dataset of 528 secondary social science textbooks from 71 countries from 1966 to 2008, we analyse factors that predict a rights discourse in texts. We find that textbooks from conflict-affected nations are significantly less likely to emphasise a rights-based discourse, while more recently published textbooks from more democratic countries are more likely to emphasise a rights discourse. Our findings have ramifications for curricular reform and rights-based education in conflict-affected nations.     

Identity politics,justice and the schooling of Muslim girls: navigating the tensions between multiculturalism,group rights and feminism

This article focuses on the concerns expressed by three female Muslim educators who are support staff at an English comprehensive school. Consistent with the debates associated with multiculturalism, group rights and feminism, the article illuminates spaces of gender constraint and possibility within the discourses shaping these women’s lives and the lives of the Muslim girls they educate. With reference to an initiative at the school designed to support these girls’ greater self-determination – an Islamic discussion group – the article highlights the significance of a justice politics that begins with overcoming relations of status subordination rather than on differentiated group identity.     

Human rights,education for democratic citizenship and international organisations: findings from a Kuwaiti UNESCO ASPnet school

While universal human rights frameworks and democratic models of government have gained global support and even adherence, they often exist in tension with local cultural and religious practices. In Kuwait, tensions arise between its constitution, legal system and Islam, with several groups consequently marginalised. These tensions extend into the education system. This paper seeks to explore both theoretically and contextually the potential of a curricular module introduced in 2006 in deepening education for democratic citizenship in Kuwait. Theoretical analysis reveals the module, introduced without altering the authoritarian ethos of the system, to be quite a thin engagement with the concepts of rights and democracy. However, its enactment within the case study school – both representative of an authoritarian state school and a member of UNESCO’s Associated Schools Project Network (ASPnet) – uncovered its deeper potential and perhaps discovered the reason for its swift relegation from a three-year to a one-year programme.     

Compulsory education in religion—the Norwegian case: an empirical evaluation of RE in Norwegian schools,with a focus on human rights

Christian knowledge used to be taught in the Norwegian state school as a compulsory subject for members of Lutheran churches. In 1997 this was replaced by a subject that is compulsory for all pupils, where both Christianity, other religions and secular world views are taught on an equal basis, although more time should be used on Christianity than other views. Some parents took the state to court because they wanted full withdrawal from the subject for their children. Having lost the case, the parents of four pupils then appealed to the UN’s Human Rights Committee, which in November 2004 gave a verdict supporting the parents. This article is based on an evaluation project, asking parents, pupils and teachers about their experiences with the new subject, and also asking parents how they would prefer religions and world views to be taught. We focus on what we regard as the subject’s most central dilemma: how can the school contribute to giving the pupils and society a common cultural basis while at the same time both freedom of religion and parental rights are taken care of?     

Classroom justice: Perceptions of fairness as a predictor of student motivation,learning, and aggression

The present study examined the relationship between students’ perceptions of distributive and procedural justice in a college course and student motivation concerning the course, affective learning in the course, and aggression toward the course instructor. Although student perceptions of both distributive and procedural justice were positively correlated with student motivation and affective learning and negatively correlated with student aggression toward the course instructor, multiple regression analyses indicated that only perceptions of procedural justice predicted the three criterion variables at a statistically significant level while distributive justice perceptions did not. Implications and suggestions for future research in classroom justice are offered.