British Journal of Education, Society &
Behavioural Science
19(3): 1-14, 2017; Article no.BJESBS.29883
ISSN: 2278-0998
SCIENCEDOMAIN international
www.sciencedomain.org
Education in Constitutions in a Globalised World
(A Context Analysis)
Erdal Toprakçı1 and Ali Ihsan Yanar2*
1
Eğitim Fakültesi, Ege Üniversitesi, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey.
2
Department of EMSPE, Ege University, Turkey.
Authors’ contributions
This work was carried out in collaboration between both authors. Author ET designed the study and
supervised the work. Author AIY carried out all examination of the documentary, performed the
statistical analysis, interpreted and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Authors ET and AIY
managed the literature searches and edited the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final
manuscript.
Article Information
DOI: 10.9734/BJESBS/2017/29883
Editor(s):
(1) Stan Weeber, Professor of Sociology, McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA.
Reviewers:
(1) Jyrki Loima, University of Eastern Finland, Finland.
(2) Ludgleydson Fernandes De Araújo, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Brazil.
(3) Eugenia Iancu, Stefan cel Mare University Suceava, Romania.
Complete Peer review History: http://www.sciencedomain.org/review-history/17715
st
Original Research Article
Received 1 October 2016
Accepted 20th December 2016
th
Published 4 February 2017
ABSTRACT
In the globalised world where people travel from one country to other easily and also live there, it
may be crucial to know the similarity or the difference of constitutions, the basis of the whole legal
regulations in the country where they will live and adopt. The aim of this study is to “find out the
most emphasized educational points in countries’ constitutions and whether the educational items
differ or not according to the development level of countries and to compare educational items of
countries in the constitutions. So educational items of 187 countries’ constitutions which take place
in Human Development Report are examined and analysed in terms of development level of
countries. When the items in the constitutions are examined, it is seen that the most repeated item
is “Equality in Education” and there is no relation between number of referring to education in
constitutions and the development level of countries.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
*Corresponding author: E-mail: aliihsan0210@gmail.com;
Toprakçı and Yanar; BJESBS, 19(3): 1-14, 2017; Article no.BJESBS.29883
Keywords: Constitution; development level of countries; educational rights.
the basic pursuit “as an effective way of finding a
place for human in society” (311). Constitutions
form the basic rules of the social life and
education subordinates this aim. i man states
that “education is seen as a social institution and
public service. It is evaluated in human rights and
there
are
international
documents
and
assignments beside national laws [17].
Regulations related to education are created by
laws as the base of constitution by guidelines,
directives and curricular [18,19] and differ from
country to country.
1. INTRODUCTION
Different from other creatures, human beings
don’t usually live alone; they live in communities
in order to survive with others. This new life
resulted in them making rules which were
needed to enable people to work and live
together harmoniously and sort out any
problems. Developing their first laws, these
groups started to form a society; these laws
helped to clarify the need for fundamental rights
and
responsibilities
and
showed
how
relationships between people could exist in order
for them to have a healthy social life. All these
regulations, or at least the first application of
these, were the foundation for later ones, which
were the constitutions that can be considered as
social contracts.
Although it changes from country to country,
giving attention to each other’s regulations is
compulsory in order to make countries closer in
the global world. According to this, to attribute
education to legal foundation is proved by both
the countries’ structures and international
assignments. As an example, national and
international laws and declarations on education
rights and responsibilities in the Turkish
education system can be discussed. Kanuni
Esasi which is written in 1876 in Ottoman Empire
is the first basic source of this system. In today’s
meaning 15, 16, 114. items of Kanuni Esasi
which is accepted as the first constitution are
about freedom of citizens on the education,
supervision of state on schools and obligatory
primary education [20]. After Ottomans, in
87.item of Te kilat-i Esasiye, the first constitution
of Turkish Republic, states compulsory and free
education like today’s items [21]. Another
example is the difference of Letonia’ constitution,
kindergarden is compulsory in Letonia, but it is
not in Turkey.
Constitution can be identified either as “the rules
governing the whole of social life” or as “the
basic law which demonstrates the public rights
and how the citizens can use executive and
judicial power” [1]. According to Arslan [2],
“Positive law norms which are operative in the
specific state and at the specific time and which
regulate the establishment and operation of basic
organs of state and fundamental rights and
freedoms are considered. The establishment and
operation of these rules are mandatory for
politics, and they are called as the constitution
(6).” Constitutions of societies embody equity of
laws which regulates the legal running of each
institution in it. In other words, constitutions of
states are between the fundamental documents
which outline the fragment of parts and charge
them. As the implication of social life, education
institutions and educational politics were tried to
be formed by various laws, they generated a
“politic, legal and administrative culture” in
education systems [3].
The studies on constitutional education are very
limited. In some of these studies, researchers
give
different
thesis
about
adequacy,
appropriateness and effectiveness of educational
items. For example Anderson says conceptions
of opportunity in education should be focused
on adequacy rather than equality [22] while
Chambers [23] states the children of wealthy
people have longer education time than the
black, poor children’s and this inequity has to be
regulated and all citizens have to have adequate
and equal rights in education. Moreover
according to Ferreira and Gignoux, in some
countries, boys have more education chance
than girls [24]. There have also been some
different ideas about the place of education in
constitutions in different studies. Gonzalez [25]
says usage of educational language must be
In a healthy functioned democratic society,
education is the basic human right [4], and
important for the welfare of society and people.
Governments have responsibilities to provide
equal rights and services to citizens. Equal
education right is a subject often studied and
emphasized in the previous studies [5-14].
According to Okçu, right of living, complaining,
privacy of communication, immunity of domicile,
proprietary, the vote and to hold office as well as
education right take place on the first row of
fundamental human rights [15]. Similarly
Demirkasımoğlu [16] defines education which is
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Toprakçı and Yanar; BJESBS, 19(3): 1-14, 2017; Article no.BJESBS.29883
regulating basic rights and freedoms related to
education. The aim of this study is to “find out the
most emphasized educational points in countries’
constitutions and whether the educational items
differ or not according to the development level
of countries and to compare educational items of
countries in their constitutions.”
expressed in a constitution. Hubsch [26]
expresses the importance of standardization in
educational rights throughout the different states
of America. Likewise, Maggs [27] supports the
need of finding out the skills of children and
guaranteeing the educational rights of children.
Bitensky explicits “constitution keeps its silence
about education” and evaluates the situation of
education which is called as “life veins of free
human” by him and crisis of education [28].
Hafızoğlu [29] emphasizes that religion replies to
secularism in Turkish law and there is no
inference to religion. While choosing a religion,
freedom comes to the fore. Separating science
and religion, he says religion mustn’t be thought
inside the education as the structure of society
but it may be looked as an individual institution.
Law [30] examined legal procedures in Hong
Kong and Taiwan education system in the name
of globalization and defined that giving equal
rights to students would support
the
globalization. Çallı [31] examined place of
educational rights in Turkish constitution and in
other nations’ and listed them. Ülker [32] refers
freedom and right of education in European
Convention on Human Rights and Turkish
constitution.
2. METHODS
In this study “documentary analysis which
involves examining the written materials” was
used as a research method [33]. The documents
of the study are constitutions of the countries. It
contains 187 constitutions of countries in the
United Nations Human Development Report.
They are written in English. These constitutions
were accessed from different web sites on
different dates and up until January 2014.The
main assumption is that the constitutions were
current when they were reached. On the other
hand, any alteration wasn’t reflected. While
analyzing the range of educational items in the
constitutions, the development levels were
decided to OECD [34] and classified as “very
high, high, middle and low”.
2.1 Data Collection and Analysis
As it appears in the researches given above,
most of the studies in context with constitution
and education examine the researchers’
countries’ constitutions or compare with just a
few countries constitution instead of taking all
constitutions in the world. On the other hand, in
these studies, a specific subject such as religion
and conscious or compulsory education is
studied without examining all educational items.
The importance of this study is not to be seen
only a study which defines all the educational
items of constitution of most of the countries in
the world and which aims to find out the most
important items comparing the constitutions of
the countries. In the globalized world where
people travel from one country to other easily
and also live there, it may be crucial to the
similarity or difference of the constitutions which
are the basis of the whole legal regulations. If
there is a big difference between them or
regulations of educational rights aren’t similar,
living and studying in another country would be
difficult. This difficulty can be understood thinking
about education as the most important institution
which teaches children to live abroad. In the
context of global citizenship, examining how
education
takes
place
in
constitutions
comparatively, may help the researchers and
politicians to generate a common sense while
Data was collected by two ways and analyzed.
Firstly, the constitutions were examined to define
themes and there were 352 items about
education. In this process, both titles about
education and content of constitutions generally
were examined. An example of an item is from
Germany Constitution, “Parents decide whether
children take religious education or not” ([35],
item 7, 2). The other one, “State is respectful to
rights of parents and parents decide to children’s
religious and moral education” statement is from
Brundi [36], item 18.
After analyzing data by this way, content analysis
was used. Content analysis is used to
conceptualize data to organize these concepts to
define themes and
to interpret
them
understandingly [33]. Items which were found
were collected under 23 themes and one of them
is “the others” according to their relations. It can
be given a sample for generating data from
constitutional texts using the data above;
“Parents decide whether children take religious
education or not” in German Constitution and
“State is respectful to rights of parents and
parents decide to children’s religious and moral
education” in Brundi, these items support to
generate “dominance of family decision on
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Toprakçı and Yanar; BJESBS, 19(3): 1-14, 2017; Article no.BJESBS.29883
education” theme in context with choice of
parents. Matching of items with the themes were
done by “experts’ views one of the way to
provide reliability and validity in research” [33].
constitutions was not a vital problem in states but
today, in the context of globalisation, it requires
an urgent attention of constitutional partnership
[40].
Secondly, statements related to education in 187
countries’ constitutions were listed. After listing, it
was found out that there were references to
education 1135 times. One of the sample
statement is from Algeria is that; “the right of
education is under guarantee (Item, 55) [37].
The themes seen only in one constitution were
put under “the others” theme. This theme
includes statements which don’t take place in the
other 22 themes. Some statements from this
theme is; “every citizen, if he has ability and no
legal limitations, has the right of choosing his
education, experience and vocation [41] item
48(1).
Descriptive analysis was applied for collected
data. Each item was reviewed and put under
its theme. Consistency review was done for
reliability of item- theme relation by researchers
whilst distributing items to themes. An example
for descriptive analysis; “each citizen’s right of
education is under guarantee” belongs to
equality in education theme. As another
example; “private schools, religious schools or
secular schools can be opened under the control
of state” (item 14) [38]. Private schools are under
authority and control of state” (item 7) [39]
statements are put in “supervision of state to all
kinds of education” theme. After distributing
items to themes, theme frequency and
percentage were worked out and were
compared in terms of the development levels of
countries.
2.2.2 Comparison of distribution and sorts of
themes in countries’ constitutions
In Table 1, there have been frequencies of
references which take place in constitutions and
which are related to education and distribution of
themes. It can be seen in Table 1, on the first
nine rows with 201 frequency (17.71%) equality
in education, with 167 repetition (14.71%)
compulsory and free education, with 153
frequency (13.48%) state support to all kinds of
education, with 61 frequency (5.37 %) freedom to
choosing religious education, with 57 frequency
(5.02%) rights of children in education, with 51
frequency (4.49%) education governed by state,
with 38 frequency (3.35%) supervision of state to
every kind of education, with 36 frequency
(3.17%) secularism in education and with 27
repetition (2.38%) dominancy of parents’
decision in education take place. When it is
looked these nine themes, it is seen that they
support the universal values of the world. In the
global world, in any country, every person has to
be able to have equal right of education
supported by state and free for choosing religion.
In the other situation, education can cause
inequality so “it should be protected by states via
constitutions” [42].
2.2 Findings and Interpretation
2.2.1 Educational themes according
expressions in constitutions
to
There have been 22 different themes which each
takes place in at least two countries’
constitutions. Themes are “compulsory and free
education”, “supervision of state to all kinds of
education”,
“autonomy
of
education”,
“compulsory religious education”, “supporting
private enterprise”, “secularism”, “freedom of
choosing education language”, “equality in
education”, “independency of education from
every kind of philosophical thought”, “rights of
minority”, “state support to special education”,
“education governed by state”, “education given
by private institutions”, “leaving education to
private education by need”, “free higher
education”, “dominance of family decision”,
“science based education”, “monolinguality in
education”, “nationalism in education”, “rights of
children in education”. This result may mean a
serious theme distribution or diversity. And so,
that quality can be said not to contribute to
globalization. In the past differences between
14 themes which are in other row are nationalism
in education with 24 repetition (2.11%),
education given by private institutions with 23
(2.03%), autonomy in education with 20
frequency (1.76%), rights of minority in education
with 16 frequency (1.41%), compulsory religious
education 15 frequency (1.32%), freedom to
choosing education language with 13 frequency
(1.15%), monolinguality in education with 12
frequency (1.06 %), state support to special
education and independency from every kind of
philosophical thought with 8 frequency (0.70%),
leaving education to private institutions by need
has 4 (0.35 %) frequency. Having chance of
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Toprakçı and Yanar; BJESBS, 19(3): 1-14, 2017; Article no.BJESBS.29883
education are noticed and scientific, academic
studies may follow them.
choosing education language is rarely repeated
with the percentage of 1.15 %. It can be the sign
of not being practical in real life applying
multilingualism in the state of having people
from various kinds of mother tongue. According
to this, we can reach the result of that; taking
an education in the native language of the
country is the most important tool for living in that
society.
There has been a certain relation among
education curriculums of European Union
countries founded as a result of globalization.
Generating innovative links between programs
from different fields such as Socrates -General
education, Leonardo Da Vinci- Vocational
education, Youth and Erasmus + are especially
supported. The target of all European Union
education program is to reach a European
Identity which has a common culture and
qualified education [43]. EU is the most important
part of this globalized world. In that meaning,
while a person, the member of EU goes to
another EU country temporally or perpetually,
he/she doesn’t have trouble. But in a non-secular
country, a person from different religion can have
difficulties during education time, because of the
role of religion, so the rights on education should
be known not to have trouble. In addition to this,
the study gives differences between educational
items in constitution as a finding. Because of unsimilar
items,
researchers
get
16.74%
percentage of“others” theme. In other words,
countries in the world talk the same language by
83.16% percentage but 16.74% of their view of
education differs from each other.
In countries’ constitution, equality in education is
the most repeated theme and “compulsory and
free education” “support of state to every kind
of education” follow this theme. 113 constitutions
of 187 constitutions include compulsory and
free education. This result matches with
that expression in International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in
item 13 “states which signed this agreement
accept that everybody has the right of education
[15].
The last three themes in the list are “free higher
education with 4 frequencies (0.35%), science
based education with 4 frequencies (0.35%) and
supporting private enterprise with 2 (0.18%).
Since these themes are related to expectations
which come after basic education in
constitutions, firstly basic and compulsory
Table 1. Theme distribution and sorts of educational items in constitutions
Line
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
Total
Themes
Equality in education
Compulsory and free education
State support to all kinds of education
Freedom of choosing religious education
Rights of children in education
Education governed by state
Supervision of state to all kinds of education
Secularism
Dominancy of parents’ decision in education
Nationalism in education
Education given by private institutions
Autonomy in education
Rights of minority in education
Compulsory religious education
Freedom of choosing education language
Mono-linguality in education
State support to special education
Independency from every kind of philosophical thought
Leaving education to private institutions by need
Free higher education
Science based education
Supporting private enterprise
Others
5
F
201
167
153
61
57
51
38
36
27
24
23
20
16
15
13
12
9
8
4
4
4
2
190
1135
%
17,71
14,71
13,48
5,37
5,02
4,49
3,35
3,17
2,38
2,11
2,03
1,76
1,41
1,32
1,15
1,06
0,79
0,70
0,35
0,35
0,35
0,18
16,74
100
Toprakçı and Yanar; BJESBS, 19(3): 1-14, 2017; Article no.BJESBS.29883
It is a pleasure to see compulsory and free
education theme as the most repeated one
because of its harmony with Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. The role of
international human rights law is seen as a
source of constitutional values [47]. Also, while
regulating education, taking right of education
and compulsory education under guarantee is a
principle for international texts and contemporary
constitutions [31]. It needs to accept states’
authority to identify details of compulsory
education. When the constitutions are examined,
it is seen that duration and age of compulsory
education are regulated differently as a result of
compulsory education and free education comes
to stage. If the states want to increase the level
of education, it must provide education to citizens
from every economic situation; this can only be
achieved by compulsory and free education. On
the contrary, poorly educated face the likely
prospect of circumscribed earning power and
they may be politically ineffectual. Just as
egregious, they are bereft of their heritage, of
mankind's greatest intellectual and artistic
achievements [47].
2.2.3 Theme distributions and comparisons
of educational items in constitutions
according to development level
2.2.3.1 Theme distributions and comparisons of
educational items of very high developed
countries
As it can be seen in Table 2, the most repeated
theme in very high developed countries’
constitution is “compulsory and free education”.
There are 47 very high developed countries and
27 countries refer it 37 times. For example
Portugal constitution expresses “state takes
global, compulsory and free basic education
under guarantee (Item 74:2-a) [44].” The other
repeated 31 times is “equality in education”. 23
countries’ constitutions include this theme.
Holland and Germany, from very high developed
countries, refer mostly to “state supports every
kind of education” theme, Japan from the same
group impresses “secularism in education”. It is
seen that, the theme which the most impressed
can be changed even in the same development
level. “Free higher education” and “science
based education themes don’t take place in
these level countries.
When we compare Table 1 and Table 3,
“compulsory and free education” is on the top of
list similarly to Table 2. The themes which are on
the top five are common in the World except
“right of children in education”. It is amazing that
this theme is on the eleventh order in high
developed countries’ constitutions although it is
on the fifth in the World order. It can be the result
of old population and low birth rate [48] and
parallel with it, giving place to right of children in
constitutions is out of the point. There may be no
need to give place children rights on constitution.
If there is no trouble on this area, it may not be
required.
When we compare Tables 1 and 2, very high
developed countries feature compulsory and free
education theme. On the other hand, state
supervision of every kind of education is on the
top line in very high developed countries
although it is on the bottom rows in the world list
amazingly. Its reason can be rising importance of
education supervision. Recently, the process of
supervision have being investigated and reported
in many areas since it takes a significant place in
education [45].
2.2.3.2 Theme distributions and comparisons of
educational items of very high developed
countries
2.2.3.3 Distribution and comparison of themes in
middle developed countries’ constitutions
The most referred theme in this level is
compulsory and free education with 49 times.
Peru constitution includes that statements
“education is free in state and state takes
person’s right of education under guarantee who
has economic troubles (item 17) [46]. Nobody
can be prevented from having educational rights,
because of his physical or mental limitations
(item 16). With 48 repetition number, equality in
education follows this theme. There is no
reference to “leaving education to private
institutions by need” and “independency of
education from every kind of philosophical
thought” themes.
Equality in education is impressed mostly in the
middle development level. 65 times repeated
theme was followed by “state support to every
kind of education” with 51 times. “Compulsory
and free education” takes place in the third order
with 45 frequency. “Leaving education to private
institutions by need”, “supporting private
enterprise” “free higher education” and “science
based education” aren’t cited in these level
countries’ constitutions. Republic of Lao
expresses equality with “all citizenship has the
right of education and improvement yourself”
(Item, 38) [49].
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Toprakçı and Yanar; BJESBS, 19(3): 1-14, 2017; Article no.BJESBS.29883
Table 2. Theme distributions of educational items in very high developed countries
Line
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
Total
Themes
Compulsory and free education
Equality in education
State support to all kinds of education
Supervision of state to all kinds of education
Rights of children in education
Secularism
Dominancy of parents’ decision in education
Education given by private institutions
Freedom of choosing religious education
Education governed by state
Nationalism in education
Autonomy in education
Rights of minority in education
Compulsory religious education
State support to special education
Freedom of choosing education language
Monolinguality in education
Independency from every kind of philosophical thought
Leaving education to private institutions by need
Supporting private enterprise
Free higher education
Science based education
Others
F
37
31
20
11
10
10
9
8
7
7
4
4
4
3
3
2
1
1
1
1
0
0
29
203
%
3,26
2,73
1,76
0,97
0,88
0,88
0,79
0,70
0,62
0,62
0,35
0,35
0,35
0,26
0,26
0,18
0,09
0,09
0,09
0,09
0,00
0,00
2,58
17,9
Table 3. Theme distribution of educational items in high developed countries’ constitutions
Line
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
Total
Themes
Compulsory and free education
Equality in education
State support to all kinds of education
Freedom of choosing religious education
Education governed by state
Supervision of state to all kinds of education
Dominancy of parents’ decision in education
Autonomy in education
Secularism
Nationalism in education
Rights of children in education
Rights of minority in education
Education given by private institutions
Compulsory religious education
Freedom of choosing education language
Monolinguality in education
Science based education
State support to special education
Free higher education
Supporting private enterprise
Independency from every kind of philosophical thought
Leaving education to private institutions by need
Others
As it is seen in Table 4, in middle developed
countries “freedom for choosing religion in
education” goes down to 6. row. And
F
49
48
40
20
12
9
9
9
8
8
7
7
6
6
6
4
4
3
1
1
0
0
71
328
%
4,32
4,23
3,52
1,76
1,06
0,79
0,79
0,79
0,70
0,70
0,62
0,62
0,53
0,53
0,53
0,35
0,35
0,26
0,09
0,09
0,00
0,00
6,27
28,9
“compulsory free education regresses 3. row.
“State support to every kind of education” goes
one step up. “Giving education by state” takes
7
Toprakçı and Yanar; BJESBS, 19(3): 1-14, 2017; Article no.BJESBS.29883
education, following secondary school and higher
education complete that right of people” (Item 30)
[51].
place of “freedom for choosing religion during
education”. More attention is desirable even now
in the evolution of religious education the
qualities considered desirable as educational
outcomes in the making of value judgements and
the exercising religious discernment [50]. This
case can be defined with that the need for
supporting education is much more parallel to
decreasing of development level.
It is seen that, the least repeated theme is similar
in low, middle and high developed countries.
There has been no reference to themes “support
for private enterprise” and “leaving education
to private institutions by need” in three
development levels. When it was compared with
items in Table 1, which shows general world
results, it results in low developed countries
show similarities with the results in Table 4.
When the development levels are near each
other, educational items become similar to each
other also.
2.2.3.4 Theme distributions and comparisons of
educational items of low developed
countries’ constitutions
When the frequency is compared, the most
impressed theme is “equality in education” with
57 repetitions in low developed countries’
constitutions. “State support to every kind of
education” is repeated 42 times. “Support for
private enterprise” “autonomy of education”
“science based education” are themes which
don’t take place in constitutions of this level.
Constitution of Gambia from low developed
countries contributes this theme of equality with
those statements; “all people have equal
opportunity and rights. Compulsory free primary
2.2.3.5 Comparisons of educational items in
constitutions
totally
according
to
development levels
After examining constitutions of all countries, 352
education expressions are found out and these
expressions are mentioned 1135 times.
Distribution percentages of refers are given in
Table 6 according to development level.
Table 4. Theme distribution of educational items in middle developed countries’ constitutions
Line
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
Total
Themes
Equality in education
State support to all kinds of education
Compulsory and free education
Rights of children in education
Education governed by state
Freedom of choosing religious education
Supervision of state to all kinds of education
Secularism
Nationalism in education
Autonomy in education
Dominancy of parents’ decision in education
Education given by private institutions
Monolinguality in education
Freedom of choosing education language
Rights of minority in education
Compulsory religious education
Independency from every kind of philosophical thought
State support to special education
Leaving education to private institutions by need
Free higher education
Science based education
Supporting private enterprise
Others
8
F
65
51
46
23
17
13
13
11
11
7
6
5
5
4
3
3
3
2
0
0
0
0
44
332
%
5,73
4,49
4,05
2,03
1,50
1,15
1,15
0,97
0,97
0,62
0,53
0,44
0,44
0,35
0,26
0,26
0,26
0,18
0,00
0,00
0,00
0,00
3,88
29,2
Toprakçı and Yanar; BJESBS, 19(3): 1-14, 2017; Article no.BJESBS.29883
Table 5. Theme distributions of educational items in low developed countries’ constitutions
Line
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
Total
Themes
Equality in education
State support to all kinds of education
Compulsory and free education
Freedom of choosing religious education
Rights of children in education
Education governed by state
Secularism
Supervision of state to all kinds of education
Education given by private institutions
Independency from every kind of philosophical thought
Dominancy of parents’ decision in education
Compulsory religious education
Leaving education to private institutions by need
Free higher education
Rights of minority in education
Monolinguality in education
Nationalism in education
Freedom of choosing education language
State support to special education
Autonomy in education
Science based education
Supporting private enterprise
Others
F
57
42
35
21
17
15
7
5
4
4
3
3
3
3
2
2
1
1
1
0
0
0
46
272
%
5,02
3,70
3,08
1,85
1,50
1,32
0,62
0,44
0,35
0,35
0,26
0,26
0,26
0,26
0,18
0,18
0,09
0,09
0,09
0,00
0,00
0,00
4,10
24,0
Table 6. Numbers of all items related to education in constitutions according to development
levels
Classification of countries
Very high development level
High development level
Middle development level
Low development level
Item repetition number
203
328
332
272
It is seen that the countries in very high
development level have the least educational
item and they have only 17,9% of the distribution.
Low developed countries follow it with 272 total
frequencies. Middle developed countries are
defined as countries which include most
educational items in their constitutions with 332
frequencies and 24.2% percentage. Using these
findings, it can be said that there is no
relationship between development level and
educational item frequency in the constitutions.
The explanation of the decrease from middle
developed countries to very high developed
countries is that; constitutions of very high
developed countries are very short and this
shortness overpowers percentage of giving place
to educational items. So, the societies which
behave respectfully to rights and which turn it
into a habit don’t need to have written rules in
order to show respect for the rights of others.
This situation brings decrease in item numbers.
Reason of having dense constitutions of middle
Distribution range (%)
17,9
28,9
29,2
24,0
developed countries can be the try of having
social consciousness. Relating to this, they have
more educational items. Kuzu who has examined
a lot of countries’ constitutions and said oriental
countries have many more items in their
constitutions. He states that “If a country is
developed, it has a short constitution. If it is nondeveloped, its constitution is long. There is no
easy way like this. Let’s write shortly and
develop. When you develop, you write shortly
[52].”
2.2.3.6 The countries which include the least
and the most items in their constitutions
according to development level
In Table 7 there are some countries which
include the least or most items. As it is
understood, Portugal from the very high
developed countries has the most educational
item with 12 and is on the 45th development
level in the list. Argentina and Germany follow it
impressing 10 items.
9
Toprakçı and Yanar; BJESBS, 19(3): 1-14, 2017; Article no.BJESBS.29883
Table 7. The countries which have the least and most items in their constitutions
Development
level
Least referred
country
Development
level
Reference F
Reference %
Very high level
Brunei
Darüsselam
Kazakistan
İran
Tunus
Tonga
Cibuti
30
0
0
69
76
94
95
164
1
1
1
0
0
0,11
0,11
0,11
0
0
High level
Middle level
Low level
10
Most
referred
country
Portugal
Devepolment
level
Reference
number
Reference %
43
12
1,06
Ecuador
89
31
2,73
Honduras
Congo
120
142
17
15
1,49
1,32
Toprakçı and Yanar; BJESBS, 19(3): 1-14, 2017; Article no.BJESBS.29883
Ecuador has 31 educational items and is at 89th
level in high developed countries list. Venezuela
with 19 items and Turkey with 17 items follow it.
In the middle developed level, Honduras is on
the first line with 17 items. China, Egypt,
Philippines, Vietnam and India impress education
with 14 items and sit the second step. When we
look the low developed countries, Congo with 13
educational items impresses education mostly.
Century, state has started to feel the need for
education, and accepted compulsory and free
education. This has been guaranteed by
international treaties [15]. So, legal regulations
for giving education to every citizen are done all
over the world. As it is said in this study, making
education compulsory to guarantee educational
rights is a principle which takes places in
international
texts
and
contemporary
constitutions.
It is found out Ecuador is the country which has
the most item among 187 countries. Ecuador
leaves very high developed countries behind.
This can be the display of that; frequency of
educational items are depends on the national
dynamics and countries move depending on their
needs and internal dynamics while defining their
constitutions.
While identifying details and age of compulsory
education, states can make different decisions in
parallel with country realities. While 180
countries
regulate
education
with
their
constitutions, 7 countries don’t give any place to
education in their constitutions. Common
characteristic of these 7 countries are being high
developed and governing federally. Governing
federally can create problems while they are
generating standards in education. Considering
this situation can be a trouble for both citizens
and foreigners in these countries, not only global
but also societal standards have to be generated
in their education systems.
U.S.A., Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Brunei
Darussalam, Tonga and Cibuti refer none of 352
educational items. U.S.A., Australia, New
Zealand, Austria and Brunei Darussalam are
from very high development level. Tonga is
middle developed and Cibuti is low developed
country. Kazakhstan, Iran and Tunus which are
from high developed countries refer to only one
theme. Having no educational item can be
related to be governed federally, to have states
and to have different constitutions in each state
in U.S.A. and in other very high developed
countries.
Countries which mentioned to education rights
mostly in their constitutions are Ecuador,
Venezuela, Honduras and Turkey. These
countries are from different development level.
This result may show that there is no relation
between number of referring to education in
constitutions and development level of countries.
Then, having certain rules of law about
increasing quality of education may not mean
having high level standards in education. From
this point of view, it can be reached the result
that, the quality of education is more important
than quantity of it. The demonstration of it is that,
highly developed countries have the fewest
educational items when we look at the total
frequency of them. For example; although
experts of laws say that Turkey, which is the one
of the country having most items, has an
adequate constitution in terms of democracy and
science [54], it is not a high developed country.
When we think about the effect of education on
generating a society, the countries which don’t
provide the unity in constitutions would have
decreasing in their quality of being a unique
society. The decreasing can destroy the
globalization, because the country which hasn’t
regulated the rights and opportunities of its own
citizens can have difficulty to provide educational
adaptation of foreign people in the country.
3. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
When the items in the constitutions are
examined, the most repeated item is “Equality in
Education”. “Compulsory and free education”
follows this theme. Increasing percentage for the
other themes could support world citizenship.
Likely, there have been equal education rights
and free primary education in Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. The foundation of
these bases passing the democratic regimes
which include equality and freedom instead of
aristocratic society with the French Declaration
Rights of Man and the Citizen [53]. Since XVIII.
With the scope of the United Nations, to talk
about having educational rights there has been
not only the absence of discrimination but also
accessibility for economic and physical
conditions. In other words, people have to have
equality of opportunity [55]. Phenomena of
secularism in education is a theme which
supports the equality of opportunity and which
saves the rights of people who travel from one
country to another in global world. Equality in
11
Toprakçı and Yanar; BJESBS, 19(3): 1-14, 2017; Article no.BJESBS.29883
educational outcomes is a crucial determinant of
the extent of equality of opportunity and
intergenerational mobility achieved by societies
[56]. When we considered all the findings, the
results can be that generally the right of
education is provided and constitutional items
take notice of global needs in terms of law of
education.
2.
3.
It can be suggested to jurists of constitution
whose constitutions have more or less
educational item that; they should add items
which provide equal rights to everybody and
which discriminate nobody because of their
language and religion to their constitution
considering realities of the world while writing
constitutions. Because any student can have
trouble by the reason of legal holes like items
related to compulsory religion education.
Therefore, urging secularism in constitutional
items can enable foreign students in the
globalization process. Though religion continues
to enjoy a global significance for humankind, any
justification of the compulsory status of religious
education must be made on the basis of reason
rather than public consensus since we live in a
pluralistic world in which contrasting world views
[57].
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
It can be proposed to researchers who want to
study the place of education in constitution that
they can study only one countries’ constitution
deeply and discuss the validity of items applying
expert views. Or, they can examine and compare
constitutions of two countries, for example one
from high development level and other from low
level. The results of these researches can
contribute to the legists of constitution and
writers of it. For legists making articles in
constitutions more similar to each other may be
suggested to provide standardization of
education in the global world such as Bologna
process. Moreover researchers may investigate
the obstacles in constitutions to reach global
standards in the world for world citizenship.
Because education is a birth right and anyone
from any country should have the same
education rights with the other.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
COMPETING INTERESTS
Authors have
interests exist.
declared
that
no
14.
competing
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