Realizing Education as a Human Right: Global Norms and Local Challenges

This innovative book assesses the extent to which a human right to education is realized in the lives of youth around the world. It employs UN Special Rapporteur Katarina Tomasevski’s ‘five A’ framework of availability, accessibility, acceptability, adaptability and affordability as an organizing principle. Leading experts outline the normative commitments that are inherent in treating education as a human right.

Presenting an international range of case studies, contributing authors examine the barriers to educational access faced by children in rural areas across continents and grapple with ongoing gender-based discrimination. They tackle the difficulties in providing responsive education to migrant students, investigate tensions surrounding the education of children with disabilities and consider ongoing obstacles to pursuing higher education. As well as evaluating the implementation of education as a human right, the book also looks to the future by addressing the possibilities of aspirational commitments.

Realizing Education as a Human Right is highly relevant for scholars and students of law and education with an interest in sustainable development, education policy, human rights and quality education, particularly in an international context. It also provides useful guidance to advocates and policymakers interested in advancing education as a human right, as well as policymakers enacting educational reforms.