Education, law, and social justice

Abstract

Postsecondary education is widely hailed as an avenue of personal growth and emancipation, while law is often celebrated as essential to the protection of individual and group rights. Such positive imagery of these two social institutions is challenged by those working in critical frameworks such as feminism, postmodernism, and critical race studies (Burtch, 2003). In this essay, I reconsider the intersection of law and education in Canada, noting the removal of some historical barriers for excluded or marginalized people and discussing access-related developments in law and postsecondary education, including examples of where curricula and programming now promote diversity and widened access. Drawing on principles of social justice, and complemented by selected international examples, our focus here will be on emerging directions in education and law. The changing political, economic, and cultural landscape in Canada and worldwide requires educators to adjust and innovate. © 2006 Springer. Printed in the Netherlands.