Justice and Equality in Education: A Capability Perspective on Disability and Special Educational Needs

Abstract

Educational equality is a fundamental principle of social justice. Yet despite the centrality of social justice and its extensive analysis in the theory and research of education, the concept of equality is conversely rather unspecified or vaguely theorized, and there is a lack of consensus on its implications for policy-making. However, the ideal of equality has a crucial normative role to play at two interconnected levels in education: the theoretical level, concerned with values and aims, and the level of pro-vision, relating to the enactment of these ideals into policy and practice. Consider the following two examples.