Religious and ideological rights in education
Judicial perspectives from 32 legal systems
Pablo Meix Cereceda and Jan De Groof (eds.)
This book seeks to provide a panorama of the issues arising from pluralism in the education
system and of judicial responses to them around the globe. In it, thirty-four authors
representing many different legal cultures have selected and commented the most significant
judicial decisions in each of the jurisdictions analysed. The topics addressed include religious
and cultural symbols; faith-based, religious, and citizenship education; freedom of teaching
and scientific freedom; homeschooling; authorization, funding and other matters concerning
denominational and private schools, among other legal disputes. The reader will easily sense
many different ideological orientations throughout the book’s thirty-seven chapters, which is
only the result of pluralism itself and of scientific freedom. Nevertheless, the editors believe
that all of the authors have inherently favoured the desire to understand the challenges of
pluralism and to convey knowledge that is relevant for a public debate rather than defending
their own particular point of view. Indeed, facilitating debate might be considered to be the
best achievement of a publication of this kind.
The book is divided into six parts. The introductory part features a chapter by the editors concerning the implementation
and justiciability of the right to education, and a second chapter by Prof. Charles L. Glenn providing an in-depth historical
essay on the importance of debates over religion and education. The fi ve remaining parts refl ect a geographical division:
Part II includes two chapters on international human rights bodies (the European Court of Human Rights and the
United Nations Human Rights Committee); parts III to VI group national courts’ decisions by region: Europe, the
Americas, Africa, and lastly Asia and Australia.

ISBN: 9789462404069 • 2017 • 544 pages • softcover/paperbacks • 69,95 euro

Human Rights Obligations in Education the 4-A Scheme

The rationale of the right to education is that it functions as a multiplier, enhancing all rights and freedoms when it is guaranteed while jeopardizing them all when it is violated. Ensuring education for all children has been governmental responsibility in many countries for a long time because it is informed by a sound rationale. Schooling a whole generation creates an educated labour force and an informed electorate. Depriving the young of education denies them – and their countries – a future. Even more important is education as institutionalized socialization of the young. Forging a nation-state was the key purpose of education when it became compulsory. It was made compulsory so as to teach new generations a common language and instil in them a sense of shared, collective identity. That education had been made compulsory before it became a right explains its key features.
Because the right to education, as an ostensibly universal concept, was grounded in the process of industrialization and nation-building, the model was – and remains – ill suited for rural populations. Rounding up children from scattered rural communities to transport them to a building called school is prohibitively expensive. Also, key purposes of education change. The official national language may not be known or used. If local languages are used instead, teachers have to be recruited and trained locally. But then, who decides on the profile of teachers? On what children and to be taught and how? On incentives for parents to free children from subsistence farming for full-time schooling? Such questions impose themselves and should be tackled. Of course, it is easier to ignore them but education suffers as do its supposed beneficiaries.
The paradox of human rights is the double role of the state, as protector and violator. International human rights instruments are created by the states, represented by their governments. They define the intolerable, the universal minimum below which no government should be allowed to sink. The human rights which have been defined as universal entail corresponding governmental obligations. As elsewhere, human rights safeguards emerged in education to mould the role of the state. Decades of open and covert disagreement have not led to a global consensus. This books maps out where such consensus exists and where it is absent.

ISBN: 9789058501356 • 2006 • 160 pages • softcover/paperbacks • 25,00 euro

Institutional Models in Education

Legal Framework & Methodological Aspects for a new Approach to the Problem of School Governance

Legal Framework & Methodological Aspects for a new Approach to the Problem of
School Governance
Enrico Gori, Daniele Vidoni, Eric Hanushek, Charles L. Glenn (eds.)

The theory of human capital places man at the heart of all production processes and identifies him as the factor determining income growth and a nation’s wealth. Onorato Grassi (2004), in particular, defines human capital as ‘the bringing together of individual resources and acquired knowledge, which are then used to put together theories, projects, solutions and plans of action within a dimension of social interaction and a system of inter-relations. These words express the interactive nature of the individual society, as he or she invests personal resources in the acquisition of knowledge, which then furthers the progress of society.

The market allows individuals to transform acquired knowledge into quantifiable economic profits, at both a personal and social level, and improve their cultural know-how. However, the job market is regulated by certain, mostly conventional, rules, which, for example, prescribe the minimum age of the employee, demand a variety of skills and abilities immediately, as well as the ability to learn ‘on the job’.

Moreover, in today’s post-industrial and highly specialized society, an individual’s admission to the job market is greatly determined by self-promotional and networking skills, i.e. the ability to come into contact with and sell oneself to those people who are in fact in need of certain skills.

ISBN: 9789058501721 • 2006 • 250 pages • softcover/paperbacks • 30,00 euro

Language and Education
Gracienne Lauwers and Jan De Groof (eds.)
This collection of essays results from a series of workshops and a conference held in
2013-2015, organized to draw attention to the legal framework underpinning policy
making in the area of anguage and linguistic diversity in education.
Contributors include internationally-renowned experts on education law as well as
a number of lawyers actively engaged in education policy making. In doing so, light
is shed on the legal framework adopted by Governments to find the right balance to
meet linguistic demands in education.
Readership: Academic lawyers, practising lawyers, students and scholars of education
law and education policy, government officials. 

ISBN: 9789462402171 • 2015 • 424 pages • softcover/paperbacks • 80,00 euro

Religion and Education
Gracienne Lauwers and Jan De Groof (eds.)
This collection of essays results from a series of conference held in 2012 and 2013,
organized to draw attention to legal problems arising out of religious diversity in
education. Contributors include internationally renowned judges and experts on
education law as well as a number of lawyers actively engaged in education policy
making. Concern over the accommodation of various religious groups in education is
strong, and this book makes an important contribution to the legal literature on the
situation in Europe.
Readership: Academic lawyers; practising lawyers, students and scholars of education
law and education policy; government officials.

ISBN: 9789462401310 • 2015 • 588 pages • softcover/paperbacks • 80,00 euro

The Right to Education and Rights in Education
Jan De Groof, Gracienne Lauwers and Kishore Singh (eds.)
The right to education is clearly articulated in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and further elaborated in the Convention against Discrimination in Education,
and in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other
international and regional treaties. The very act of states making commitments
entrenched in international agreements generates expectations of compliance at
the national level. Yet, enough questions remain about incomplete compliance with
provisions on the right to education. As a result, even though entitled to education,
millions of children and adults remain deprived of it. States should take normative
action for promoting education accompanied by economic and social measures in
order to allow young people to complete the course which will lead them on to higher
education.
In their written contributions, experts of the European Association for Education Law
and Policy (ELA), US-ELA, SAELPA (South African Education Law and Policy Association), LEAGUE OF
EDUCATION LAW (Russian Federation), ANZELA (Australia and New Zealand Education Law Association),
CAPSLE (Canadian Association of the Practical Study of Law in Education), and high-level representatives of
governments and NGO’s, present best practices as well as their concern for the right to education and rights
in education. The publication aims to stimulate the debate about the necessity of stricter enforcement of
existing conventions and laws dealing with the right to and rights in education.

ISBN: 9789058502384 • 2006 • 441 pages • softcover/paperbacks • 60,00 euro

Juridical Foundation to Religious Education in the
Post-Soviet Eastern European State
Three Models Theory of the REDCo Research Projection in Application to Ukraine
Vitaly Proshak
In this book, written within the frameworks of the program Christianity & Society,
Tilburg School of Catholic Theology, Tilburg University, an attempt has been made
to investigate the existing juridical foundation to religious education in an Eastern
European state of the post-Soviet Eastern Block for the purpose of promotion the
democratic notion of religious tolerance and the development of a culture of living
together in the multicultural and polyconfessional society of Ukraine. The main research
focus of this project is on the juridical foundation to religious education in Ukraine
as is presented in the national juristic canons and its interpretation in the broader
European spectrum of religious education on the example of the three model theory of
the REDCo research project. For this purpose the following juridical constitutional and
administrative/public laws of Ukraine were considered: Constitution of Ukraine and
the Law of Ukraine On Education.
Information on author: Vitaliy V. Proshak is a guest researcher in Multicultural and Religious Education at
the Department of Religious Studies and Theology, Faculty of Humanities, Utrecht University. He holds
(an equivalent of) BA degree in Biblical Studies and Church Ministry from Zaporozhye Bible College and
Seminary, Ukraine, MDiv and MET degrees from Tyndale Theological Seminary, Badhoevedorp and MA
Christianity and Society from Tilburg School of Catholic Theology at Tilburg University. He is married to
Tetiana Mykhalchuk and together they are raising their daughter Daniélla-Izabell.

ISBN: 9789058507877 • 2012 • 128 pages • softcover/paperbacks • 25,00 euro

No person shall be denied the Right to Education
The influence of the European Convention on human rights on the right to
education and rights in education
Gracienne Lauwers and Jan De Groof (eds.)
All over Europe, governance takes on an increasingly European character, thereby obliging
policy makers to comply with the dictates of international and supranational organizations.
Although recognizing that the influence of the European Court of Human Rights in education
is fairly minor, the high level of compliance with its provisions among signatories is remarkable.
To this end, this book deals with the implementation of the rulings of the ECtHR on the right
to education in ECHR signatory nations. The book offers insights into responses as to how
decisions of the ECtHR play out in education while seeking both to assess the manner in
which signatorie simplement its provisions and reconcile domestic law with its orders dictates.
Part I of the book discusses the case-law in educational matters of the Commission and
the European Court of Human Rights. Part II consists of chapters which focus on the
implementation of the rights to education and in education in Member States. Part III
examines comparative aspects with respect to the effect of the Court’s case law on individual
member states. One can expect that human rights will continue to develop around Europe,
especially after the approval of the European Constitution. The key question is whether ECtHR
case - law could steadily expand and develop in to a kind of “Principles of Roman Law” which spread all over Europe,
thereby forming the basis of modern European human rights law while contributing to the further development of
educational and other legislation in member nations.
The editors and contributors hope to have made the materials in education more accessible and responsive to the
practical needs of laywers and educational policymakers. The rule of law could be the driving force needed too verride
resistance and provide legitimacy to changes.
“No Personshall be denied the Right to Education”, was prepared in conjunction with the first World Conference on the
Right to and Rights in Education. The conference took place in the Netherlands from 25-30 November 2004.

ISBN: 9789058500984 • 2004 • 749 pages • softcover/paperbacks • 60,00 euro