Reasonable accommodation in education

Subtitle:an integrated human rights approach on the basis of the right to equality, inclusive education and freedom of religion

European liberal democracies are characterized by an increasing religious (super)diversity. This is reflected in the often ill-informed, volatile and polarizing nature of the ensuing public debates on the place of religion in society (be it with regard to religious symbols, crosses, headscarves, turbans, minarets, face-veil and burkini bans, religious holidays, dietary requirements or ritual slaughter) as well as a proliferation of scholarly interest in the issue of (the right to) reasonable accommodation of religious difference, alongside an increase of such accommodation claims by individuals belonging to religious minoritized groups in spaces ranging from the school to the workplace. The dissertation takes specific interest in the question of (the right to) reasonable accommodation of religious (and other intersecting difference) in the field of education. Schools, functioning as microcosms of society, indeed are the prime sites that are finding themselves grappling with the multifarious challenges and opportunities that the aforesaid increased religious diversity raises, and which are entangled with discussions about the role of (public) education, concerns of common civic values, social cohesion, integration, citizenship, non-discrimination and equal educational opportunities. This dissertational examination, which is both normative-constructive and critical-analytical, happens in a two-pronged manner, with the first (part of the) research question seeking to explore what legal principles can serve to underpin (the right to) reasonable accommodation of religious (and other) difference in the educational setting. More particularly, this exploration focuses on the principle of substantive equality, the right to (inclusive) education and the right to freedom of religion as potential legal bases on which duties of reasonable accommodation in the realm of education can be founded or from which they can be derived. The second (part of the) research question is concerned with examining the limitations of (the right to) reasonable accommodation as a framework for the adjudication and negotiation of claims concerning religious difference, deploying the principles of substantive equality, right to education, and freedom of religion, in addition to their aforesaid function as normative bases or constitutive principles of the right to reasonable accommodation, as lenses through which the inclusive egalitarian potential of the latter is critically assessed. In going about this human rights integrative endeavor, the dissertation relies on an interdisciplinary range of theories and insights, including critical race theory, intersectional feminism, political and social justice theory, educational and pedagogical theories as well as religious studies, and ends up painting a nuanced picture of the right to reasonable accommodation of religious (and other) difference in the field of education and beyond.

Publication year:2020

Keywords:Doctoral thesis

Accessibility:Open