Schooling social justice and the role of the state

Resumen

This article illuminates modern social phenomena and their impact on schools, teachers and administrators. Global trends, such as globalization, neo-liberalism and new public management, are among those discussed. A 'thinking tool' developed by the author and colleagues is presented and explained. This model depicts how the major social institutions of the state, business/commerce, and civil society (e.g., established religions) interact to affect schooling, and the individual student, teacher, and administrator. Relative tolerance of nations (and, by implication, the tolerance shown by social institutions such as schools) and the ontological security of individuáis are proposed as positive counterbalances to the negative effects of some of the social trends mentioned.