On democracy and social justice in educational contexts following Bernstein's proposal: a systematic literature review on pedagogic rights

Abstract

This article presents a systematic literature review on Basil Bernstein's concept of pedagogic rights and their realisation in educational environments. The materialisation of pedagogic rights is a basic condition for guaranteeing students a socially just and democratic educational experience. Addressing Bernstein's three pedagogic rights - enhancement, inclusion, and participation - the research aimed to establish potential points of contact between the studies carried out, which would make it possible to understand the conditions that promote (or limit) students' access to pedagogic rights in a school context, as well as to reflect on the consequences they identify concerning whether or not these rights are guaranteed. Following the PRISMA protocol, the search was employed on the Scopus, Web of Science, ERIC, and EBSCO databases. Of the 1092 studies identified, 21 were considered for analysis. Among other things, the results showed a notable geographical dispersion and an eminently qualitative tendency in the studies that collected empirical material; the findings were that the distribution of pedagogic rights tends to be insufficient in educational contexts, being lower in marginalised or vulnerable environments; and that non-commitment to these rights seems to encourage the tendency to reproduce the social order in educational contexts.