From the Constitution to the Classroom: Educational Freedom in Antwerp’s Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Schools

Lotem Perry-Hazan

doi:10.1080/15582159.2014.942178

From the Constitution to the Classroom: Educational Freedom in Antwerp’s Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Schools

Lotem Perry-Hazan

Department of Leadership and Policy in Education

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This study explores how the constitutional right to educational freedom penetrates to the schools of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish (Haredi) community in Antwerp, which is one of the largest Haredi communities in the world. The findings indicate that the constitutional educational freedom is altered by various legal rules, social norms, and implementing agents that transform it on the way down to the Haredi schools. The complex, illusive operation of the cogwheels of education policy demonstrates that education laws should be shaped with considerable thought, taking into account their long journey across the arenas of education policy.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	475-502
Number of pages	28
Journal	Journal of School Choice
Volume	8
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/15582159.2014.942178
State	Published - 3 Jul 2014

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The methodology combines legal analysis with fieldwork, aiming to reveal the interrelationship between the various cogwheels of education policy. The legal analysis examines the role of the constitutional freedom of education in the Flemish education laws4 and in judicial rulings. The analysis is supported by reports of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Flemish Ministry of Education, as well as by academic scholarship. The fieldwork included 23 semistructured interviews with Haredi principals and teachers (two men and six women who work at four different schools), parents (one father and 11 mothers whose children attend eight different schools), and young women who recently graduated from the schools (three women who attended two different schools). The interviews were conducted in Hebrew or in English, according to the preference of the interviewees. In addition, I visited four schools and collected documents. The fieldwork was conducted during Fall 2012.

Publisher Copyright:
© , Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Keywords

Belgium
Haredi
education law
educational freedom
religion
ultra-Orthodox

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Education

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1080/15582159.2014.942178

Cite this

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From the Constitution to the Classroom: Educational Freedom in Antwerp’s Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Schools

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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