Translating Human Rights in Education

Front matter

Julia Biermann

English Abstract

Legally backed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD), inclusive education has gained momentum as a global human rights paradigm in recent years. But how does Article 24 of the convention actually influence the development of inclusive school systems within state parties? The book probes current meanings of inclusive education in two contrasting state parties to the UN CRPD: Nigeria, whose school system overtly excludes disabled children, and Germany, where this group primarily learns in special schools. The paradox of disability segregation being maintained despite rhetorical and legal support for inclusive education counters long-held views on the fundamental differences in reform processes in contrasting world regions. In both countries, policy actors aim to realize the right to inclusive education by segregating students with disabilities into special education settings. In Nigeria, the demand for special education arises from the glaring lack of such a system, but in Germany, conversely, from its extraordinary long-term institutionalization. This act of diverging from the principles embodied in Article 24 is based on the steadfast and shared belief that school systems that place students in special education has an innate advantage in realizing the right to education for persons with disabilities. Accordingly, inclusion emerges as an evolutionary and linear process of educational expansion that depends on institutionalized special education, not a right of persons with disabilities to be realized in local schools on an equal basis with others. Based on this result, the book reveals that the crucial factor undermining the realization of Article 24 of the UN CRPD is the discursive-institutional power of special education to corroborate each nation’s progress in providing “Education for All,” or the lack of it—both nationally and internationally. Based on this result, the book proposes a refined human rights model of disability in education that shifts the analytical focus toward the global politics of formal mass schooling as a space where discrimination is sustained.

Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

Acknowledgments

II

Digital materials related to this title can be found on the Fulcrum platform via the following citable URL: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub. 12000946

Figures

Figure 1. Translation as Discourse 23 Figure 2. Translational Model of Institutional Change 24 Figure 3. Cascade of Change I 43 Figure 4. Cascade of Change I 46 Figure 5. Inclusive Education Ladder 48 Figure 6. Cascade of Change III 50 Figure 7. Speaker and Subject Positions in the Nigerian Discourse 59 Figure 8. Speaker and Subject Positions in the German Discourse 89 Figure 9. Comparative Case Study Design 95 Figure ro. Position Map of Discourses 105

Figure 11. Elements of Institutionalized Translations 119

Tables

Table 1. Article 24 UN CRPD as a “Program of Change”

Table 2. The Institution of Schooling as Article 24 UN CRPD’s “Object of Change”

‘Table 3. Framework for the Reconstruction of Translations ‘Table 4. Historical Development of the Formal School System in Nigeria ‘Table 5. Special Groups and Forms of Special Education in Nigeria ‘Table 6. The Story of Inclusive Education Change in Nigeria

‘Table 7. Historical Development of the Formal School System in Germany

Table 8. The General Education System in Germany

‘Table 9. The Story of Inclusive Education Change in Germany Tablero. Contextual Sources of Change I

‘Table 11. Points of Comparison between Translations

‘Table 12. Contextual Sources of Change II

Table 13. Institutional Sources of Change I

‘Table 14. Institutional Sources of Change II

Acknowledgments

This work is based on my doctoral thesis titled “Comparing Article 24 UN CRPD’s Influence on Inclusive Education in Nigeria and Germany: Institutional Change in Educational Discourse,” submitted to the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Humboldt- Universitat zu Berlin (day of Defense: 2 May 2018).

This book would not have been possible without the support I received from numerous people over the last decade.

From the first rough ideas through the dissertation process to the final manuscript, Prof. Dr. Lisa Pfahl and Prof. Dr. Justin J.W. Powell have been a constant source of support, encouragement, and inspiration. Pm very grateful to both. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Prof. Dr. Vera Moser for her support as chair of the doctoral commission.

My deepest thanks goes to all interviewees and supporters in Nigeria and Germany. Their help has been invaluable in learning about inclusive education change on the ground.

For the dissertation, I received a doctoral scholarship from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom. In addition, financial support to prepare the book manuscript came from the Faculty of Education and the Institute for Educational Science at the University of Innsbruck. For both, I am very grateful.

For their important feedback and critical comments at different stages of my research, I would also like to thank all participants of the doctoral colloquia at the University of Bremen and Humboldt- Universitat zu Berlin as well as the members of research workshops at the University of Innsxiv Acknowledgments bruck and the Academic Network for Inclusive Education: International and Comparative Perspectives.

My deepest gratitude goes to Malte for his unrelenting support, foresight, and courage. Everything is nothing without you.

BMAS

BMZ

BuReg CESCR

CRPD CSACEFA CSO

DGB

DIMR DPhV

DPO EFA ESSPIN FME FMWA FRN GPE

Abbreviations

Bundesministerium ftir Arbeit und Soziales (Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs)

Bundesministerium fiir wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development)

Bundesregierung (Federal Government)

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All

Civil Society Organization

Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (German Trade Union Confederation)

Deutsches Institut für Menschenrechte (German Institute for Human Rights)

Deutscher Philologenverband (German Philologists’ Association)

Disabled Persons Organization

Education for All

Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria

Federal Ministry of Education

Federal Ministry of Women Affairs

Federal Republic of Nigeria

Global Partnership for Education

IOM xvi Abbreviations

International Organization of Migration

JONAPWD Joint National Organization of Persons with Disabilities

Kultusministerkonferenz (Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Lander in the Federal Republic of Germany)

Millennium Development Goals

National Action Plan

National Bureau of Statistics

Network of Experts in Social Sciences of Education and ‘Training

Non-governmental Organization

National Planning Commission

National Policy on Education

National Population Commission

Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights Program for International Student Assessment

Sustainable Development Goals

Universal Basic Education

Universal Basic Education Commission

UNESCO Institute of Statistics

United Nations

United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

United Nations General Assembly

United Nations Human Rights Council

United Nations Children’s Fund

Universal Primary Education

ONE