{"id":42765,"date":"2026-06-04T10:47:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T08:47:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world-education-blog.org\/?p=42765"},"modified":"2026-06-04T10:47:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T08:47:43","slug":"what-does-justice-in-for-and-through-education-mean-for-a-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world-education-blog.org\/2026\/06\/04\/what-does-justice-in-for-and-through-education-mean-for-a-child\/","title":{"rendered":"What does justice in, for, and through education mean for a child?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By:\u00a0Torill Strand, University of Oslo, and author of a\u00a0<\/span><\/span>background paper<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0to the<\/span>\u00a0GEM Report publication,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Learn to build just societies<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

On\u00a0a cold morning\u00a0in northern Norway, a\u00a0S\u00e1mi\u00a0boy sits in a classroom, looking at a map where his people\u2019s land is not named. The teacher talks about \u201cour\u201d history, \u201cour\u201d language, \u201cour\u201d culture. None of them are his. He learns about Norwegian history that day. He also learns something else: that his story is not part of what counts.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On another continent, a girl in Pakistan, Malala Yousafzai, climbs onto a bus to go to school. For her, the simple act of going to school has become dangerous. She is shot by the Taliban for insisting that girls have the same right to education as boys. Later, she\u00a0<\/span>stands at the UN<\/span><\/a> proclaiming: \u201cOne child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In a camp near the Sudanese border, a refugee child wakes up in a tent. School is a memory, or a promise repeatedly postponed. She has crossed lines on a map that adults drew and defended. She has lost friends,\u00a0her\u00a0home, and everyday routines.\u00a0Her right to education is fragile.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These three children do not know each other.\u00a0Their languages, landscapes, and life stories differ.\u00a0Still,\u00a0their realities are connected by a simple but demanding question.\u00a0What does justice in, for, and through education mean for a child? Although their situations are\u00a0very different, they echo realities that children face in many parts of the world.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Mind the gap<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

The gap between ideals and realities calls\u00a0for a radical shift in how we pursue justice in\u00a0education. Rather than\u00a0starting from\u00a0ideal theories or abstract principles, we must attend to children\u2019s everyday experiences of injustice.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the philosopher\u00a0<\/span>Nancy Fraser<\/span><\/a>\u00a0reminds us, \u201c<\/span>we do not need to know what justice is\u00a0in order to\u00a0know when something is wrong. What we need, rather, is to sharpen our sense of injustice, to cut through obfuscation and ideology\u201d.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read in this light, the stories above do not merely illustrate\u00a0where\u00a0the world\u00a0falls\u00a0short of predefined ideals. They\u00a0reveal concrete moments when something is clearly not as it should be.\u00a0Taking such moments seriously requires listening carefully to children, recognizing them as present subjects of justice, and engaging them as co-authors of the conditions that shape their lives.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0moral and political status of the\u00a0child<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

For centuries, influential theories of justice have treated children as \u201cnot-yet\u201d civic subjects.\u00a0Because children have\u00a0often\u00a0been\u00a0seen\u00a0as\u00a0not\u00a0fully rational, education has been\u00a0understood primarily as\u00a0preparation for future participation\u00a0in society.\u00a0The child\u2019s value appears\u00a0mainly as\u00a0a citizen-in-the-making.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0<\/span>UN Convention on the Rights of the Child<\/span><\/a>\u00a0challenges this view. It\u00a0recognizes\u00a0children as rights\u00a0holders here and now.\u00a0Article 12 affirms their right to express their views and have those views\u00a0taken seriously.\u00a0This might sound obvious. But in practice, it is radical.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n