MINELRES: New publication: Education law in multicultural societies

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Original sender: Paivi Gynther <gyntherin@luukku.com>


Title: From Utopia to Quintessence: Education Law from the Viewpoint of
Roma and Skills Deficiency
Author: GYNTHER, Paivi.
Softcover: 361 pages (June 2006) 
Publisher: author�s edition 
Language: English 
ISBN 952-92-0506-6.  
Categories: law, sociology, education policy    
Queries: gynther@iki.fi 

Synopsis

The soundness of the legal framework in education constitutes the
subject matter of this monograph. Deriving from the disadvantage
doctrine, it presents an analytical framework for diagnosing whether or
not domestic education law is in harmony with international human rights
and minority rights law. The concept of systemic discrimination,
referring to �law as a system�, distinguishes the research described in
this book from previous studies on discrimination in education. The
overarching thesis is that a sound legal framework is distinguishable by
four interrelated components.  

First, such a sound framework acknowledges the right of individuals to
skills acquisition that enables a self-sufficient life in society.  

Second, it guarantees that everybody is equally the subject of education
law, unless they are exempt on objective and reasonable grounds. 

Third, it acknowledges that the distribution of public resources shall
consider both diversity and disadvantage in education.  

Fourth, it calls for the representative decision-making mechanisms to
reflect the composition of society. 

The analysis undertaken here of international standards substantiates
that states committed to them shall take into account each of the four
components.  The study argues that if any of the key components is
neglected, space is left for overt or covert exclusion of some parts of
the population from proper protection by education law. 

A major impetus for this monograph comes from the reported perpetuation
of educational disadvantage among Roma all over Europe.  Therefore, in
focus are Roma individuals falling into diverse legal categories and the
concern that their educational rights shall not be ignored when
childhood and primary education is over.

Keywords: education legislation, fundamental education, capacity
building, systemic discrimination, ageism, linguicism, genderism,
ethnism,
Roma.

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