Tristan McCowan

Reframing the universal right to education

The universal right to education has been enshrined in a range of international rights instruments. Yet despite the considerable secondary literature on the subject, there has been little discussion of the notion of education underpinning the right. This article presents a theoretical exploration of the question, leading to a normative reassessment. The article first assesses the expression of the right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, identifying limitations in its focus on primary schooling. Other candidates for a basis for the right – namely learning outcomes and engagement in educational processes – are then assessed, and the latter is found to provide the most coherent foundation. Nevertheless, the positional benefits of formal schooling cannot be ignored. Consequently, a two‐pronged expression of the right is proposed, involving access both to meaningful learning and to institutions that confer positional advantage.

Human rights, capabilities and the normative basis of ‘Education for All’

While commitment to a universal entitlement to education is highly desirable, some significant limitations have been identified in the right to education as currently expressed and implemented. This article assesses the contribution that the capabilities approach can make in this regard. While some proponents have suggested that capabilities should replace a rights framework, it is argued here that the elements of ‘threshold’ and ‘duty-bearer’ present in human rights are essential, and that a more promising approach is to combine the two frameworks. Three significant contributions that the capabilities approach can make in relation to Education for All are proposed: providing a fuller conception of the realization of the right to education; addressing the heterogeneity of learners; and guarding against an overly state-facing approach.

Is there a universal right to higher education

ABSTRACT Opposition to university fees is often framed as a defence of higher education as a ‘right’ rather than a ‘privilege’. However, the basis and nature of this right is unclear. This article presents a conceptual exploration of the question, drawing on an initial analysis of international law. An argument is put forward for a right to higher education seen as one of a number of possible forms of post-school education, restricted only by a requirement for a minimum level of academic preparation.

School democratization in prefigurative form: two Brazilian experiences

Recent moves towards greater pupil participation in school decision-making have in part been based on instrumental rationales, such as increases in test scores and improvements in behaviour. This article assesses a different approach — that of the ‘prefigurative’ — through which the school embodies the democratic society it aims to create.Two examples of prefigurative initiatives in Brazil are assessed: the Landless Movement, a social movement for agrarian reform that runs a large network of schools in its rural communities, and the Plural School, a framework of social inclusion in the municipal education system of Belo Horizonte. Qualitative case studies of the two showed significant enhancement of the democratic culture of the schools and changes in the teacher—student relationship. However, a number of problematic issues were also raised, including the difficulties in extending participation to the whole student body, and the tensions with teachers when students began to exert greater influence in school. Finally, the implications of these prefigurative cases for an understanding of education for democratic citizenship are drawn out.

Human rights within education: assessing the justifications

While respect for human rights has long been endorsed as a goal of education, only recently has significant attention been paid to the need to incorporate rights within educational processes. Current support for human rights within education, however, has a variety of motivations. This paper provides a theoretical exploration of these diverse justifications, leading to a normative proposal. A distinction is made between status-based and instrumental approaches. Human rights within education can be justified from a status-based perspective on the basis of their indivisibility, meaning that the right to education must not entail an infringement of other rights. Yet while rights-respecting environments are important sites of learning, instrumental justifications can be a source of concern, if the goals in question are irrelevant or inimical to the enhancement of rights. An argument, therefore, is put forward for a simultaneous realisation of embodiment of and opportunity for learning about human rights.

Opening spaces for citizenship in higher education: three initiatives in English universities

While there has been widespread international attention paid to the promotion of citizenship in schools, the civic dimension of higher education study has been less prominent. This article assesses three cases of provision for the teaching of citizenship in English universities, encompassing both discrete modules and embedded approaches. The cases are analysed using the framework of ‘curricular transposition’, focusing on the problematic movements from underlying ideals to realisation in practice. Findings from the studies suggest that lecturer involvement is a key factor, and that top-down initiatives are unlikely to succeed. In relation to location in the curriculum, both dedicated taught courses and whole institution approaches are seen to present distinct challenges and opportunities. Finally, implications are drawn out for the prospects of promoting democratic citizenship in higher education.

Higher education, unbundling, and the end of the university as we know it

Abstract Unbundling is the process through which products previously sold together are separated into their constituent parts. In higher education, this dynamic has been driven primarily by financial motivations, and spearheaded by the for-profit sector, but also has pedagogical motivations through its emphasis on personalisation and employability. This article presents a theoretical analysis of the trend, proposing new conceptual tools with which to map the normative implications. While appearing to offer the prospect of financial viability and increased relevance, unbundling presents some worrying signs for universities: first, the removal of possible synergies between teaching and research, and between different modes of learning; second, the undermining of the ability of institutions to promote the public good and ensure equality of opportunity; and third, the threat of hyperporosity to the conducting of basic research with long-term benefits.

Indigenous Higher Education in Mexico and Brazil: Between Redistribution and Recognition.

Abstract Indigenous groups in Latin America face a double exclusion from higher education, with low levels of access to institutions and little acknowledgement of their distinctive cultural and epistemological traditions within the curriculum. This article assesses current policies in Mexico and Brazil towards indigenous populations in higher education, considering the various responses to the challenge, including affirmative action programmes in mainstream universities, intercultural courses and autonomous institutions. These policies and initiatives are analysed using the theoretical frames of redistribution and recognition, focusing on demands for formal equality and material wellbeing on the one hand, and a distinctive cultural and educational space on the other. While state-sponsored policies focus primarily on the redistributive element, initiatives based on recognition come largely from autonomous organisations, raising a series of dilemmas and tensions around educational justice for indigenous populations in the region.

Higher education, learning and citizenship

Higher education today confronts several challenges, including those of language and linguistic contradictions, cultural diversity in approaches to learning, traditions of academic writing and knowledge production, privatisation and selective inclusion due to the demand for fees, concerns around citizenship and civic education and changing youth aspirations, to name a few. More generally, it has to cope with a surge in demand coming particularly from emerging countries such as China and India. Alongside this, there have been pressures to conform to global norms and quality standards in terms of outcomes and achievements. Responses have varied from an exclusion of the socially and educationally underprivileged to strategies aimed at creatively accommodating diversity. This open issue, dealing with student mobility and learning in a globalised world, directly confronts some of these issues. The first paper, by Robin Shields, entitled ‘Reconsidering regionalisation in global higher education: Student mobility spaces of the European Higher Education Area’, examines international student mobility between member states of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), a group of 47 countries that committed to reforming their higher education systems to improve the comparability and compatibility of degrees. While increased student mobility is a key goal in its official documents, little research has empirically investigated student mobility patterns in respect to the EHEA. The analysis employs multivariate techniques to identify trends in student mobility between 1999 and 2009, using a spatial approach to visualise the relationships between member states as constituted through student mobility flows. Results show that within the analysis timeframe, student flows in the EHEA became more even in their distribution, but that in terms of the relationships between states, the EHEA became more centralised and segmented, meaning that key actors mediated exchanges between peripheral states, and the region was more easily divided into self-contained clusters. These trends indicate a need to critically reconsider the nature of the EHEA and its role in the globalisation of higher education. The second paper, by Yusuke Sakurai, Anna Parpala, Kirsi Pyhältö and Sari Lindblom-Ylänne, ‘Engagement in learning: A comparison between Asian and European international university students’, moves on to examine

Buen vivir: reimagining education and shifting paradigms

The new development order that emerged from the ashes of the Millennium Development Goals has brought much needed attention to the natural environment and to societal inequalities, two features tha...