Abstract

WALTENBERG, Fábio D. ESSENTIAL EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS AS THE CURRENCY OF EDUCATIONAL JUSTICE. Cuad. Econ. [online]. 2010, vol.29, n.52, pp.103-126. ISSN 0121-4772.

How can we define justice in education? To do so in a rigorous fashion requires making some important methodological choices. In this article, we focus on the most basic of them, namely the choice of the "currency of educational justice". Since the level at which justice is to be assessed is an open question, we briefly expose some problems with well-known normative viewpoints that adopt a "macrojustice" scope, and explain why Amartya Sen´s "mesojustice" approach is preferable. After addressing some objections, we end up defending a version of "educationism", in which the relevant currency of justice turns out to be essential educational achievements, an attribute which is simultaneously a relevant functioning and a plausible determinant of capabilities.

Keywords : education; theories of justice; educational fairness; normative economics; functionings.

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