Policy Horizons for a just education within democratic societies. A reflection from Latin America

Abstract

This article revises the current situation of education in this region and the historical periods in which certain policy horizons oriented the design and constitution of the current educational systems. Within this context, we recover and discuss part of the reflection of the ethical and political thought of the twentieth century to define some of their contributions to the challenge of formulating new policy horizons that propose an idea of justice in education that can respond to the requirements of a democratic and equal society in Latin America. In particular, and from this point of view, we read Social Liberalism by Rawls, the communitarian perspective of Taylor and Sandel and the republican look of Pettit.

We argue that significant inequalities and asymmetries that affect Latin American systems can be explained by the absence of a deliberative and corporate definition of education and its policies. A more just and egalitarian
education, more democratic and participatory, is consequence of recovering and explaining this social and cultural sense of education, and align its actions to meet the needs and social problems. We thus propose the need to build an ethical-political reference, widely accepted and shared, to hold, validate and demand equal education.