The project will approach the formulated research objectives by a complex methodology which tries to overcome the drawbacks and challenges in the available research and which consists of both theoretical and empirical research streams and methods. More specifically, our methodology envisages:
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developing a multi-disciplinary and multi-dimensional theoretical framework which has never been applied before and which accounts for the multi-faceted nature of social justice in adult and higher education by combining ideas from the capability approach, the recognition theory and the political economy of education;
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reflecting the complex character of social justice in participation in higher and adult education by paying attention to different stages of educational process – access, participation and completion – and to the stratified nature of higher education and diversity of adult education (formal and non-formal, job-related and non-job related);
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taking into account the multilayered nature of participation in higher and adult education by including factors at individual and country level in the analysis of social justice in and through education;
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assuring a dynamic view of this phenomenon with regard to each of its dimensions by including measures for as much as years possible;
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adopting a comparative perspective of this phenomenon with regard to each of its dimensions for a wide range of European countries;
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identifying the multi-faceted specifics of social justice by its complex measurement regarding people’s socio-economic background, gender, place of living, migrant background.