Exploring New Debates, Challenges and Issues of Social Justice In Educational Settings

In an age of multiple crises and widening social inequality, debates about distribution and recognition have become central to contemporary discourses and practices in social justice education. Distribution and recognition have become popular ways of understanding the experiences in education for different social groups (e.g. in relation to class, gender, race, urban and rural). While these concepts offer different accounts of what social justice is and how it should be examined and practised in educational realms, they remain important keywords in the grammar of education justice.

In line with the theme of the congress, this session aims to examine “the social roots of crises and transformations” and analyse “how inequalities are produced and contested” by different social actors and individuals in education. In so doing, the session aims to address questions such as: What does justice mean to social actors in schooling, higher education, and vocational sector? Can we learn what is happening in these educational settings through the dimensions of distribution and/or recognition? Which dimension of justice is dominant in these settings? How are issues of social inclusion and exclusion, and alienation understood and addressed in education? Do we need distribution and/or recognition to remedy educational inequalities?

This session welcomes conceptual and empirical papers that promote exchanges between researchers working on social justice education, particularly with a focus on the relevance and use of the dimensions of distribution and recognition in schooling, higher education, and vocational and technical sector.