This article examines (a) the official policy for social justice as developed by the Ministry of Education and Culture and its policy-makers, (b) the ways in which school leaders (head teachers) and school actors (teachers) understand education policy for social justice, and (c) the impact of this process on school leaders' and actors'…

The main thesis we want to defend in this article is that learning about nationalism from a historical, sociological, and normative point of view constitutes one important, but rather neglected, dimension of a good citizenship education. Although the debate about nationalism and education has received considerable attention from political and…

In the French school system, citizenship is treated in a civics course titled "Education in civics, laws and society". However, it would be restrictive to narrow this topic to civics lessons, as the question resurfaces implicitly in other subjects. For instance, emphasis was placed in recent years on teaching about religions within…

Over the past decade, cohesion and integration have been a key concern for policymakers in countries across Europe and North America. The rapid increase in immigration, coupled with the perception of rapid social change and instability, is seen to have presented communities and governments with a range of "new" challenges. In the…

Over the last decades, many liberal democracies have experienced a tension between the education system's expressed requirement to foster citizenship norms and the liberal (sub-)ideal of norm neutrality. This dilemma has been accentuated by, on the one hand, increased ethnical and cultural diversity and, on the other hand, liberalization of…

Work contexts shape conditions for work. Teachers working in Indigenous school contexts face conditions different from teachers working in mainstream schools. Challenging working conditions for these teachers result in high teacher turnover, making it even more difficult for already disadvantaged students to progress. From a social justice…

Much research on bullying in schools positions individual children within a deficit model of personal variables, categorising and cataloguing them with high levels of aggressiveness, low levels of empathy and so on. While less than optimal school characteristics are sometimes noted, the expectation for change is on the children. This article…

This research project sought to learn how solidarity education is manifested in Chilean Catholic schools, considering the perspectives of school principals, programme directors and pastoral teams. Eleven Chilean schools were studied and the information gathering techniques applied included: a questionnaire, semi-structured individual interviews…

In recent years, citizenship education has been the subject of much international attention, including two major cross-national studies. However, few reviews of civic education scholarship include research from post-conflict societies. This omission is notable because post-conflict situations offer distinct challenges to instilling both democratic…

In this article, we present a qualitative multi-case study of three beginning elementary teachers working in New York City and describe the distinct ways in which each articulates her responsibility to teach a social justice-oriented education. We employ positioning theory to examine how teachers narrate their relationship to the concept of social…

This article focuses on the impact on schools and schooling of the ten-year "People's War" in Nepal between 1997 and 2007. It draws on research conducted in schools under a British Council funded Higher Education link from 2000 to 2006. In particular, we examine the role that education played in creating and sustaining the conflict in Nepal owing…

The Chinese government has shifted the pattern of rural schooling over the past decade, replacing village schools with urban boarding schools. The stated goal is to improve school quality, while deploying resources more effectively. However, the new boarding schools fail to provide a safe, healthy environment or protect and enable students' human…

Every society has an obligation to provide quality education to children regardless of their socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. The number of cross-boundary students (CBS) from Mainland China in Hong Kong schools is increasing. This article reviews educational policy and provision for educating CBS, presenting data from an empirical study.…

Service-learning as a popular term refers to an educational model that combines academic study with social activism and civic service. However, some countries, such as China, use different terms. This article explores the differences and commonalities between service-learning in the USA and social practice in China in the following areas:…

Poverty may be the major obstacle to positive life chances in the UK. Ennals and Murphy (2005) suggest that escape from the poverty trap is more likely for those who remain in education after the age of 16. However, school life may bring problems for children from low income families, with learning assuming a lower priority than social acceptance…