Educational policies, inclusive leisure and social equity in the face of the new futures of education

Abstract

Focusing its main arguments on values evoked by equity and social inclusion, from a historical perspective, the text presented here emphasizes the important role that educational policies play in achievements associated with a better future for individuals and society. However, the relevance that their discourses and practices have acquired –in convergence with those that refer to cooperation and solidarity, peace, freedom or social justice– in international declarations must not be overlooked, as their initiatives show a commitment to a two-fold challenge: on the one hand, to guarantee the right to lifelong quality education, expanding and diversifying educational opportunities, ways of educating and being educated in society, and on the other, harnessing the transformative potential of education as a global public good, in the transition towards a future that is more ecologically and socially liveable and sustainable. Imagining it and building it requires a new social contract for education, in which leisure –as a third-generation right that meets basic needs related to rest, recreation, personal development, well-being or quality of life– must reconcile freedom with equality, inclusion with changes and technological, social, cultural and other transformation processes, so that no one is left behind.