The rise of law in education - exploring three drivers of juridification in the context of a changing welfare state

This article takes as its starting point that governments in different countries increasingly tend to use legal means to solve societal problems and argues that this tendency reflects broader changes in the welfare state. While previous critical studies of education policy have contributed important knowledge on governance changes, the impact of the legal system has, however, until recently remained an outlier. By synthesising links between different theoretical and empirical contributions, the purpose of this article is to identify and explore key historical drivers for the development of juridification. The guiding research question is: Why juridification of education now - and how? To approach it, three interrelated and interwoven international trends are outlined: marketisation, accountability and human rights. The article contributes knowledge on how these three drivers have created contextual opportunities for juridification to develop, and invites further examination by the growing community of researchers dedicated to exploring juridification of and in education.