1. Democratic legitimacy in governance of education
- Subjects
legitimiteit ,governance of education ,SDG 16 - Peace ,freedom of education ,onderwijsbestuur ,vrijheid van onderwijs ,medezeggenschap ,legitimacy ,participation ,democratization ,Justice and Strong Institutions ,democratisering - Abstract
This study uses the political connotation of democracy in constitutional contexts as an instrument to clarify the democratic legitimacy of the governance of education. The author concludes that the current legislation on participation and good governance falls short of the four notions of democratic legitimacy comprised in this study. It is true that in recent years more attention has been paid to democratic legitimacy, but there are still fundamental flaws in legislation. Democratic deficiencies still exist in foundations, whereas associations mainly face democratic duplications due to education legislation. The problems in current legislation are so fundamental that adjustments are necessary. With regard to the position of parents the path of participation seems a dead end. This study mentions four versions of an educative democracy that, to a decreasing degree, comply with the notions of democratic legitimacy: 1. mandatory educative democracy in public and private education; 2. mandatory educative democracy in private education; 3. voluntary educative democracy; 4. educative democracy in current legal forms. The first three variants are based on an association form with mandatory membership of all parents. Following the teleological interpretation method in this study this structure can be considered a present-day operationalization of the intention of the constitutional legislator. On present showing an educative democracy is not a solution for the problems of legitimacy in a socio-cultural sense, but it is a necessary condition for legal-political legitimacy.
- Published
- 2021