Decision-making for fairer education

Abstract

Are schools that are not just permissible?

John Rawls, the leading theoretician of Social Justice, is very clear on this point: it is not enough that the basic institutions of society are orderly and efficient, above all they must be just. And if they are not, they must be ‘reformed or abolished’ (Rawls, 1971, p. 17). So if we follow this philosopher, we either change schools to be fair, or we close them. There is no alternative.

It seems clear that building a socially just educational system is not just a matter for politicians and administrators, but depends on the decisions, behaviour and attitudes of the entire educational community. Thus, it would be possible to speak of a fair school in an unfair system, or even of a fair classroom.

A school will be fair to the extent that it makes a differentiated distribution of resources and efforts according to the needs of the students (thus achieving, as Rawls would say, that the differences in results come from the different efforts of boys and girls, not from the ‘chance’ of birth in aspects such as social conditions, culture, gender, ability...). It will be so to the extent that it recognises and values the personal and social differences of all children, and to the extent that it encourages the participation of all children, especially those traditionally excluded. But it will also be a fair school to the extent that it contributes to the construction of a fairer society.

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