Education for All: Going Beyond Rhetoric

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Education for All Going Beyond Rhetoric

• Sean Healy, SMA, Ph.D.
• Director, CORI Justice Commission
• sean.healy_at_cori.ie

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Context constant change

• Historically, periods of rapid change were
  followed by plateaus of calm.
• Not so anymore.
• Change leads to change leads to change.
• New challenges and new opportunities.
• Key moment in human history
• The future is not predetermined.

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4 eras coming to a resolution

• 200 years - the production age when focus was on
  producing wealth.
• 500 years - dominated by scientific thought and
  the scientific method.

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4 eras (continued)

• 2,000 years dominated by the culture that emerged
  from Greece, Jerusalem and Rome - a period in
  which the white race has gained control of much
  of the world.
• 5,000 years - where patriarchy dominated most
  cultures

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A world characterised by

• Growing resources
• More jobs/unemployment
• Expanding population
• Poverty and inequality
• Social division
• Social exclusion / little participation
• Etc. etc.

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Future is not predetermined

• Economic growth?
• Total destruction?
• Greater balance?
• A question of priorities.
• The future that emerges will flow from the
  decisions made now.

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Need for a rights-based approach to S/E/C issues

• A rights-based approach to social, economic and
  cultural (S/E/C) issues.
• S/E/C rights should be acknowledged and
  recognised just as civil and political rights
  have been.
• Some of these are of special concern to the
  socially excluded and marginalised.

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Seven basic S/E/C rights

• The right of all to
• Sufficient income to live life with dignity
• Meaningful work
• Appropriate accommodation
• Relevant education
• Essential healthcare
• Cultural respect, and
• Real participation.

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Making S/E/C rights justiciable

• Can these be vindicated in law while respecting
  the political process and not destroying the
  balance of power between the judicial and the
  governmental aspects of society?
• YES.
• How?

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Making rights justiciable

• Recognise these rights as constitutional.
• Have a legal requirement on incoming Governments
  to set our concrete targets for 2 and 4 year
  periods.
• Failure to achieve these targets would be
  justiciable on a class-action or similar basis
  (Labour Court system?).
• Only acceptable reason for non-implementation
  i.e. economy did not perform as forecast.

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Building a better future a key role for
lifelong learning

• The future we choose will be very determined by
• Our analysis of the present situation
• Our vision of the future we want to build
• The pathways we choose to travel from the present
  towards the future.
• Our views on each of these three items are very
  determined by the 'carriers of meaning' in
  society - education, mass media and religion.

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Irelands changes of direction

• Ireland has changed direction a number of times
  in the past century. In each case we changed our
  analysis, our vision and our mode of travel from
  one to the other. The carriers of meaning were
  crucial in each case.
• 1920s
• 1960s
• Late 1980s
• The present moment

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Lifelong learning is important because (1)

• It is the best way of ensuring that people
  discover the reality in which they live and work
  etc. and develop the capacity to impact on that
  reality.
• It is central to society changing direction.

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Lifelong learning is important because (2)

• It enables people to fulfil their full potential
  and thus is intimately linked to peoples quality
  of life.
• It can be an instrument to combat social
  exclusion and disadvantage by enabling people
  with few or no previous qualifications to develop
  their skills.

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Lifelong learning is important because (3)

• It contributes to the goal of creating a dynamic
  and flexible labour force, thus boosting
  potential for economic growth while
  simultaneously having other positive impacts.

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Lifelong learning is important because (4)

• Helps tackle inequality produced
• as a result of educational disadvantage flowing
  from early failure in the formal school system
  or
• By inequalities based on gender, race or ethnic
  origin or any other cause.

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In conclusion

• Rapidly changing context
• Key moment in human history
• Future is not predetermined
• Need for a rights-based approach
• LLL key role in building a better future
• LLL important because