Symposium Aims

This symposium brings together researchers from Sweden, Norway, UK and Chile to discuss the relation between juridification and education. The so far available limited research on this issue has mainly been subject-specific, often split between research on the legislation itself, or the enactment of specific forms of juridification. In addition, in critical studies of education the legal system has until recently remained an outlier, and few have tried to understand this phenomenon in relation to different national contexts.

The aim of this ECER 2024 symposium is to empirically broaden and theoretically deepen our knowledge on the many faces of juridification in education. The double character of juridification is an important starting point, namely that the use of legal means can both contribute to creating a just, equal and democratic society, at the same time as there is a risk of adverse consequences, such as overregulation and leading to a colonization of the lifeworld. This duality also puts the light on the complexity embedded in the concept of juridification, as it points to the many interconnections between education and other systems, especially politics and law. Moreover, from this follows that juridification can appear both as direct means to govern education, as well as a result of surrounding societal changes. Although juridification has received rather limited attention in the education literature so far, there has yet been discussions in other fields for a longer time, especially by sociological researchers with central names as Jürgen Habermas and Günther Teubner. What relevance does the phenomenon of juridification have for education? What is similar and potentially different, between different countries? How can we methodologically study juridification of and in education, in order to contribute important knowledge?

The symposium explore the many faces of juridification. Most importantly, the symposium focuses on the challenges for the stakeholders at both local and state level following new regulations, especially when these are not adequately designed to fit into the educational system. Included in the symposium are papers that provide case studies of 1) law and student rights and 2) the impact on professional discretion, alongside papers that explore 3) the drivers of juridification and 4) the different forms of juridification from a conceptual perspective. 

The symposium is of high relevance for the ECER conference, first as juridification so far has received limited attention in educational research, and second as this symposium brings together legal and educational researchers to better understand the complex relation between juridification and education.        

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