Education, Law and Diversity: Schooling for One and All? by Neville Harris. Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2020, 616 pp (£90, hardback) ISBN: 978-1-50-990670-3

Abstract

Permeating all major international and regional human rights treaties, the right to education has been described as ‘one of the most important of children's moral and legal rights;without it they may be unable to develop their personality, talents, and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential’.1 However, the legal enforcement of the right to education is a much more multifaceted exercise in practice, reflecting not only the overlap between the right itself and the provision of resources necessary for its implementation, but also the inseparable connection between the child's right to education and the rights of parents to select the form and manner of that education.2 Against this backdrop, Harris's Education, Law and Diversity: Schooling for One and All? is an important contribution to our collective understanding of the domestic enforcement of the right to education for two principal reasons. From a national standpoint, Covid-19 led to the closure of schools and globally the pandemic impacted 1.6 billion learners or 94% of the world's student population.4 One of the most impacted groups of learners was children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), who from a domestic perspective experienced a pronounced, disproportionate and retrogressive impact on their right to education.5 Harris's discussion on equality, inclusion and the rights of children with SEND assumes increased import in view of the overwhelmingly negative affect which Covid-19 has had on these children. Harris notes that the proportion of primary school pupils in England whose first language is reported to be other than English was 21.2% in 2019, with the equivalent figure for secondary school pupils recorded as 16.9%.7 In alluding to religious diversity Harris notes that religiously affiliated schools now account for around one third of schools in England, which ‘enables parents to have the choice of a denominational education for their child or a secular one’.8 The theme of diversity and inclusion is carried through to the discussion of those children who are educated outside of the formal state education system, with Harris noting that this cohort of children comprise a ‘significant minority of children’,9 equating to around 6.5% of the entire school population. Noting gradual change (with the exception of children and young people with special educational needs), Harris argues that the current two-page guidance accompanying the general duty on ‘pupil voice’ as set out in s 176 of the Education Act 2002 (which emphasises the relevance of Article 12 CRC and strongly encourages schools to pay due regard to the Convention), is ‘an exhortation which surely falls short of what is required to ensure that the pupil's voice is properly engaged with in school practice’.16 One of the most significant contributions which this book makes is to the ongoing debates surrounding the rights of children and young people with SEND.