Education Law
Education is now at the core of debates about many critical social issues. At issue is not merely the way that the rights and responsibilities surrounding it affect the balance between state power and individual freedom and choice, but also the bases on which the rights of individuals and groups, especially but not exclusively those from cultural or religious minorities, require protection. These are matters that have increasingly been played out in human rights litigation in the UK (including the Begum and Williamson cases in the House of Lords), in the European Court of Human Rights, and in many other states around the world. In the UK, the hand of government looms large in education, both in terms of policy and regulation. Moreover, notwithstanding policy rhetoric about “empowerment” of the individual, education is a field in which a growing emphasis on parental responsibility has become perhaps the key policy dynamic, even though the law still pays recognition to the notion of parental choice and thus to parents as ‘consumers’. Where does this leave the fundamental rights of the child in connection with his or her own education, still relatively unrecognised officially despite some advances?
There are many issues surrounding all areas of education, including higher education and special educational needs, that provide fertile ground for socio-legal debate. In addition to the above there are important questions to be asked, for example, about dispute resolution— appeal systems, complaints systems etc— and the role of law in relation to equality of access to education. Proposed papers on these and any other national or international issues in education law and policy are warmly invited.
Neville Harris
School of Law
University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester
M13 9PL
Tel: +44 (0)161 275 3594
E-mail: Neville.S.Harris@manchester.ac.uk