Symposium: Social Progress in and Through Education

Event Review

The past decades have been characterized by a strong educational expansion in most countries around the world. This is generally considered a desirable trend given well-established associations of higher education with longer and healthier lives, greater productivity, more civic engagement, etc. However, it is also increasingly noted that educational expansion has been accompanied by trends toward the social exclusion of low qualified people and increases in levels of social inequality. Educational expansion therefore is not only a story of success. This raises the critical questions of how we can bring about progress for all through education and how to avoid accelerating social polarization. In this context the research group in_Equality and Education (EQUI) at the Institute for Advanced Studies cordially invites you to the symposium ‘Social progress in and through education’. The purpose of the symposium is to initiate a discussion on the potential of education to foster social progress. Four key-note presentations will tackle the symposiums’ topic from different perspectives. The event offers generous occasions for follow-up questions from participants and discussions.

Program

12:00-13:00

Registration & coffee

13:00-13:30

Welcome & introduction

13:30-15:00

Keynote presentations & discussion (1)
How to conceptualize and analyze social progress in and through education?
Mario Steiner, Institute for Advanced Studies
Inclusive and special education expansion: Persistence, paradoxes, social progress?
Justin Powell, University of Luxembourg

15:00-15:30

Coffee break

15:30-17:00

Keynote presentations & discussion (2)
Progress in sustainability in and through education: Global policies and national realities
Aaron Benavot, University at Albany-State University of New York
Social Progress and education: enhancing equality to improve access to and quality of education
Stephanie Matseleng Allais, University of Johannesburg

17:00-17:30

Coffee break

17:30-19:00

Panel discussion with Aaron Benavot, Lorenz Lassnigg (IHS), Stephanie Matseleng Allais, Justin Powell and Christiane Spiel (University of Vienna)

   

We ask you to register for the event by October 1st and are looking forward to seeing you for a day of lively discussion! Snacks and drinks will be provided.