Caroline Sarojini Hart presents a radical new paradigm for thinking about the role of education in the development of human flourishing. Aspirations, Education and Social Justice applies Amartya Sen's capability approach to understanding the nature of aspirations, in the light of a critical analysis of policies to widen participation in education. Sen's work is synthesised with key concepts from Pierre Bourdieu to develop an analytical framework for understanding the processes influencing the development and realization of aspirations. Drawing on empirical studies, involving over 1,000 young people, aged 14-19, this text explores the hopes and dreams of these young people for the future. The young people's voices challenge dominant discourses of aspiration, well-being and advantage, and invite readers to rethink their own positions on these issues.

Caroline Sarojini Hart presents a radical new paradigm for thinking about the role of education in the development of human flourishing. Aspirations, Education and Social Justice applies Amartya Sen's capability approach to understanding the nature of aspirations, in the light of a critical analysis of policies to widen participation in education. Sen's work is synthesised with key concepts from Pierre Bourdieu to develop an analytical framework for understanding the processes influencing the development and realization of aspirations. Drawing on empirical studies, involving over 1,000 young people, aged 14-19, this text explores the hopes and dreams of these young people for the future. The young people's voices challenge dominant discourses of aspiration, well-being and advantage, and invite readers to rethink their own positions on these issues.

This book explores what social justice looks like for rural schools in Australia. The author challenges the consensus that sees the distribution of resources as the panacea for the myriad challenges faced by rural schools and argues that the solution to inequality and injustice in rural settings has to take into account other important dimensions of social justice such as recognition and association. These include teachers’ concerns for issues of power, respect, and participation in their work that extend to policy-making processes and implementation; students’ post-school aspirations and, finally, parents’ hopes and fears for their children’s futures and the sustainability of their community. The book brings together political and social theory with education and youth studies, provides new insights about the complex nature of schooling in rural places, and makes a strong connection between schooling and the people and communities it serves.

This book explores the career aspirations, achievements and consequent social mobility of a group of British Pakistani women. It uses Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital to analyse how these women, living in a segregated Pakistani community located in a deprived northern town in the UK with poor employment opportunities, acquired the resources to pursue further and higher education, obtain qualifications and enter professional careers. The author discusses and analyses how cultural capital features in homes, schools and workplaces, as well as how the women navigate and modify intersecting gender, ethnic and class identities in order to create specific career trajectories. Illuminating the rich intersections of biography, history and society, the author captures important qualitative data which acts as a microcosm for contemporary discussions on social mobility, multiculturalism, Muslim communities, race, and gender in Britain.

"Beginning from a recognition of the fact that, as individuals, the way we think of social justice will depend on our understanding of who we are, Identity, Equity and Social Justice in Asia Pacific Education recognises and responds to the wide range of contextual and cultural perspectives informing notions of social justice across Asia Pacific educational environments. While frequently featuring as a key concept in both policy and practice, social justice is understood differently by educators and policy makers in different nations and regions. Case studies of equality and justice, fairness and equity, within educational institutions of the Asia Pacific, inform innovative contributions here to wider contemporary scholarly and public debates. This book will facilitate a more nuanced understanding of the cultural dimensions of social justice, and allow future researchers to apply new frameworks of understanding that can be expected to be of increasing relevance to educational practice." -- Publisher's website.

The connections and interactions of lifelong learning and social justice are complex and contested. Both are seen as a means to unconditional good, with little account taken of the inequalities and equalities located in constructions of power. This book develops critical ways to engage with international debates about lifelong learning and social justice through a range of competing and contested definitions, setting out some of the complexities and challenges of linking the two concepts. In particular, it engages in debates about the equalities and inequalities of learner identities, displacement and place. Its chapters consider those marginalised in complex and multiple ways, including gender, social class, ethnicity, age and migration. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Lifelong Education.

The world is not an equal place. There are high- and low-income countries and high- and low-income households. For each group, there are differential educational opportunities, leading to differential educational outcomes and differential labor market opportunities. This pattern often reproduces the privileges and inequalities of groups in a society. This book explores this differentiation in education from a social justice lens. Comparing the United States and South Africa, this book analyzes each country’s developmental thinking on education, from human capital and human rights approaches, in both primary and higher education. The enclosed contributions draw from different disciplines including legal studies, sociology, psychology, computer science and public policy.