The Debates on Education are an initiative of the Jaume Bofill Foundation and the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, geared to the promotion of social debate on the future of education. [+]

Education: a right or a market?

Joan Coscubiela

Secretary-general of the Comissió Obrera Nacional de Catalunya (National Workers Union of Catalonia)

Abstract

The title of this talk raises two questions. The first question would be: Is education principally a human right geared to people's development and personal growth, or should it be mainly regarded as a product, as a service, as just another piece of merchandise serving the economy, the production model? Concurrently, a second question can also be posed, turning the perspective around: Is it possible to make education the foremost instrument for the development of people, of policies oriented to equality, of social cohesion; and, at the same time, one of the driving forces behind a model of the economy and of competitive, sustainable development?

Keywords
education, production model, equality, social cohesion, competitiveness

Organisers: