Joseph Zajda 
Human Rights Education Globally 

This book presents a comprehensive overview of selected research concerning global and comparative trends in dominant discourses on human rights education. Using diverse paradigms, ranging from critical theory to historical-comparative research, the book examines major human rights education reforms and policy issues in a global culture with a focus on the ambivalent and problematic relationship between human rights education discourses, ideology and the state. Further, it discusses democracy, national identity, and social justice, which are among the most critical and significant factors defining and contextualising the processes surrounding nation-building, identity politics and human rights education globally, and also critiques current human rights education practices and policy reforms, illustrating the shifts in the relationship between the state and human rights education policy.






Written by authors from diverse backgrounds and regions, the book examines current developments in research concerning human rights education, and citizenship education globally. As such it enables readers to gain a more holistic understanding of the nexus between nation-state, national identity and human rights education both locally and globally. It also provides an easily accessible, practical yet scholarly insights into international concerns in the field of human rights education in the context of global culture.

Table of Content

1 Current research on human rights education globally.- 2 A review of human rights education in higher education.- 3 Insights from students on human rights education in India, South Africa, Sweden and the United States.- 4 The state of HRE in higher education worldwide.- 5 Human rights education as a link to the counterbalance strategy of the Sanctuary Cities against federal immigration programs in the USA.- 6 The promises and challenges of human rights cities.- 7 HRE in the era of global aging: The human rights of older persons in contemporary Europe.- 8 Human rights as an instrument of social cohesion in South Asia.- 9 Evaluating research on human rights education globally.

About the author

Joseph Zajda is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education and Arts, Australian Catholic University (Melbourne Campus). He specialises in globalisation and education policy reforms, social justice, history education and values education. He has written and edited 42 books and over 150 book chapters and articles on globalisation and education policy, higher education and curriculum reforms. He is also the editor of the 24-volume book series Globalisation, Comparative Education and Policy Research (Springer, 2009 & 2020). Recent publications include: Zajda, J. (2018).
Globalisation and education reforms: Paradigms and ideologies Dordrecht: Springer; Zajda, J. (2017).
Globalisation and national identity in history textbooks. Dordrecht: Springer; Zajda, J. & Rust, V. (Ed.) (2016).
Globalisation and Higher Education Reforms. Dordrecht: Springer; Zajda, J. (2015). (Ed.).
Second International Handbook of Globalisation, Education and Policy Research. Dordrecht: Springer.





Prof. Zajda’s works can be found in 480 publications in 4 languages and 10, 529 university library holdings globally. He was awarded an ARC Discovery Grant ($315, 000) for globalising studies of the politics of history education: a comparative analysis of history national curriculum implementation in Russia and Australia (with Monash University, 2011–2015). Further, he is an elected fellow of the Australian College of Educators (FACE).