Justice in Educational Systems - A Contrasting Approach

The main aim of this research project is to identify and understand the mechanisms that generate unjust treatment, social inequality and discrimination in education by analysing the processes and practices in school today, as well as to look at ways in which the education system could lessen its role in generating injustice and become less excluding. The criteria used for the analysis of justice in school include: gender, ethnicity, social status and special needs. The project will be based on both qualitative and quantitative analysis. The aim of the quantitative analysis is to (1) analyse successfulness of children in the primary school, group assessment, and enrolments in the non-compulsory secondary school in relation to the children's social status, gender and region by using available data bases in education; and to (2) establish whether there is a link between teachers' attitudes towards children's ethnicity, gender, special needs and social status, and unjust treatment in school. For this purpose, we will prepare a questionnaire for teachers asking them about their attitudes about education. The aim of the qualitative analysis is to (1) identify the actual mechanisms which generate injustice in school by studying examples from schools in Slovenia; and to (2) identify the mechanisms generating injustice in school in the USA, Australia and Sweden, and to look at the strategies used to address them by analysing studies and regulating papers on education in the respective countries. For this purpose, we will use open-ended interviews with Slovenian immigrants in the USA, Australia and Sweden who deal with the question of justice in school in their work and can provide their expert opinion on the issue.