Education and social justice

Portuguese

Desigualdades sociais e diferenças culturais: Os resultados escolares dos filhos de imigrantes│Machado, F., Matias, A. & Leal, S. (2005)│Análise Social, XL (176), 695-714.

This paper includes a quantitative study made by a survey with 1000 PALOP (african ex-colonies) migrant-descendant students, aged 15-29, from Lisbon region. Results indicate that school achievement of descendent-migrants don’t differ significatively from other students when controling class and sex variables Indeed, academic achievement is greatly influenced by class rather than culture or ethnicity. Authors conclude that social inequalities must be considered when analysing academic success and that, rather than using a multicultural perspective only, a multidimensional perspective is required.

English

Higher education and the achievement (and/or prevention) of equity and social justice│Brennan, J. & Naidoo, R. (2008)│High Educ (2008) 56:287–302. DOI 10.1007/s10734-008-9127-3

The article examines the theoretical and empirical literature on higher education’s role in relation to social equity and related notions of citizenship, social justice, social cohesion and meritocracy. It considers both the education and the research functions of higher education and how these impact upon different sections of society, on who benefits and who loses from them. Questions for future research on the wider impact of higher education are posed as well as some research questions on the narrower issue of widening participation.

English

Education and Social Cohesion, Which Impact?│NESET Expert Briefing, October 2013

This expert brief focuses on social cohesion. Education is generally assumed to be one of the key determinants of social cohesion – through fostering common values and giving young people the life skills needed to get a job and become integrated into society. However, few empirical studies provide evidence for this claim. Recently, some comparative research has shown that, in relation to social cohesion, the distribution of education may be more important than the mean level of education.