Education of the child as part of parental duties – Comparative legal analysis of national reports submitted to the Commission on European Family Law
Abstract
Research objectives and problems: The author conducts a comparative analysis of the legal regulations of 21 European countries concerning children’s education in the context of parental responsibility/authority.
The guiding questions are: Is a child’s education considered part of parental responsibility/authority? What is the legal source of this right and obligation? Does the law give children any ability to decide about their education? Do the national reports refer to compulsory schooling or education duty?
Research methods: The author performs a comparative legal analysis of reports submitted by 21 countries[1] to the Commission on European Family Law on the subject of parental responsibility.
Process of argumentation: Drawing on the provisions contained in the domestic legislation of 21 European countries, as documented in the reports submitted to the Commission on European Family Law, the author presents the legal solutions governing children’s education in the context of parental responsibility/authority.
Research findings and their impact on the development of educational sciences: The analysis shows that in all 21 legal systems examined, a child’s education is regarded as an element of parental responsibility/authority/care/custody. The most common legal sources of the parental right and duty to provide a child’s education are provisions found in children’s/family/parental responsibility acts or codes, constitutions, civil codes, and education laws. National legislation generally grants children an indirect right to influence their educational path. Most reports also outline, at least in general terms, the scope of compulsory schooling or education duty in their respective countries.
Conclusions and/or recommendations: The discussion offers a concise overview of the regulations in 21 European countries and serves as an introduction to a more detailed analysis of the issue of children’s education.
References
Antokolskaia, M. (2004). National report: Russia. Commission on European Family Law. Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/Russia-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
Austrian Civil Code. (1811). JGS 946. Retrieved from http://www.ris.bka.gv.at
Belgian Civil Code. (n.d.). BelgiumLex.
Boele-Woelki, K., Schrama, W., & Vonk, M. (2004). National report: The Netherlands. Commission on European Family Law. Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/The-Netherlands-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
Bulgarian Child Protection Act, SG. 48/2000.
Bulgarian Family Code, State Gazette No. 41/1985.
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. (2010). Retrieved from https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2010:083:0389:0403:EN:PDF
Children Act 1989, c. 41.
Civil Code of Spain. (1889). Retrieved from https://www.icj.org/wp-content/uploads/Spain-Spanish-Civil-Code-2012-eng.pdf
Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania. (2000). Retrieved from https://www.lrs.lt
Civil Code of the Netherlands. (1992). Retrieved from https://www.dutchcivillaw.com
Commission on European Family Law. (2004). National report: Lithuania. Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/Lithuania-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway. (1814). Retrieved from https://lovdata.no
Constitution of the Portuguese Republic. (1976). Retrieved from https://www.constituteproject.org
Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania. (1992). Retrieved from https://www.lrkt.lt
Constitution of the Republic of Poland. (1997). Retrieved from http://sejm.gov.pl/prawo/konst/polski/kon1.htm
Constitution of Spain. (1978). Retrieved from https://www.constituteproject.org
Convention against Discrimination in Education. (1960). Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-against-discrimination-education
Danish Act on Parental Authority and Contact, Act No. 387 of 14 June 1995.
De Oliveira Rosa Martins, G. (2004). National report: Portugal. Commission on European Family Law. Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/Portugal-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
Dethloff, N., & Martiny, D. (2004). National report: Germany. Commission on European Family Law. Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/Germany-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
European Parents’ Rights Charter. (1992). Retrieved from https://europarents.eu
Family Code of the Russian Federation. (1995). Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/Russia-Parental-Responsibilities-Legislation.pdf
Ferrand, F. (2004). National report: France. Commission on European Family Law. Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/France-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
Finnish Child Custody and Right of Access Act, No. 361/1983.
French Civil Code. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr
German Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch). (2002).
German Constitution. (1949). Retrieved from https://www.constituteproject.org
González Beilfuss, C. (2004). National report: Spain. Commission on European Family Law. Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/Spain-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
Greek Civil Code. (1940/1946). Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/Greece-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
Hausheer, H., Wolf, S., & Achermann-Weber, C. (2004). National report: Switzerland. Commission on European Family Law. Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/Switzerland-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
Hungarian Child Welfare Act, Act No. XXXI of 1997.
Hungarian Constitution. (2011).
Hungarian Family Act, Act No. IV of 1952.
Irish Child Care Act 1991, No. 17. Retrieved from https://www.irishstatutebook.ie
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. (1966). Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-civil-and-political-rights
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. (1966). Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-economic-social-and-cultural-rights
Irish Constitution. (1937). Retrieved from https://www.constituteproject.org
Italian Civil Code. (1942). Retrieved from https://www.codice-civile-online.it
Italian Constitution. (1947). Retrieved from https://www.senato.it
Jänterä-Jareborg, M., Singer, A., & Sörgjerd, C. (2004). National report: Sweden. Commission on European Family Law. Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/Sweden-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
Koutsouradis, A. (2004). National report: Greece. Commission on European Family Law. Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/Greece-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
Kurki-Suonio, K. (2004). National report: Finland. Commission on European Family Law. Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/Finland-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
Lowe, N. (2004). National report: England & Wales. Commission on European Family Law. Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/England-Wales-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
Lødrup, P., & Sverdrup, T. (2004). National report: Norway. Commission on European Family Law. Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/Norway-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
Lund-Andersen, I., & Gyldenløve Jeppesen de Boer, C. (2004). National report: Denmark. Commission on European Family Law. Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/Denmark-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
Mączyński, A., & Mączyńska, J. (2004). National report: Poland. Commission on European Family Law. Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/Poland-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
Norwegian Act No. 7 of 8 April 1981 relating to Children and Parents. Retrieved from https://lovdata.no
Patti, S., Rossi Carleo, L., & Bellisario, E. (2004). National report: Italy. Commission on European Family Law. Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/Italy-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
Pintens, W., & Pignolet, D. (2004). National report: Belgium. Commission on European Family Law. Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/Belgium-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
Portuguese Child Protection Law, Law No. 147/99.
Portuguese Civil Code. (1966). Retrieved from https://wipolex.wipo.int
Protocol No. 1 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. (1952). Retrieved from https://europeancourt.org
Roth, M. (2004). National report: Austria. Commission on European Family Law. Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/Austria-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
Shannon, G. (2004). National report: Ireland. Commission on European Family Law. Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/Ireland-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
Statute of 25 February 1964 – Polish Family and Guardianship Code. Retrieved from http://sejm.gov.pl
Swedish Children and Parents Code. (1949). Retrieved from https://www.riksdagen.se
Swiss Civil Code. (1907). Retrieved from https://www.fedlex.admin.ch
Todorova, V. (2004). National report: Bulgaria. Commission on European Family Law. Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/Bulgaria-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. (1989). Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org
United Nations. (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved from https://www.un.org
Weiss, E., & Szeibert, O. (2004). National report: Hungary. Commission on European Family Law. Retrieved from http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/Hungary-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf
Copyright (c) 2025 Marta Prucnal-Wójcik
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
-
The Author/Authors declares/declare that their publication is original has not been published before and is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere and does not include borrowings from other works which might cause Publisher's responsibility, does not infringe the rights of the third party and that their copyright on this publication is not limited. The Author/Authors will incur all the costs and will pay compensations which might result from the mendacity of the following statement.
-
The Author/Authors declares/declare that issues about publication ethics, have been appropriately considered.
-
The Author/Authors agrees/agree to publish the article free of charge in Multidisciplinary Journal of School Education in English or Spanish. The Editorial Board reserves the right to shorten the texts and change the titles.
-
As part of free publication mentioned in § 1, the Author/Authors agrees/agree to make the full electronic version of their article available in the Internet.
- The Author/Authors agrees/agree to index their article in databases at home and abroad, including abstracts and keywords as well as Authors’ affiliation in English and in other languages. The Author/Authors agrees/agree to pass on the information mentioned above to the owners of these databases.
-
The Author/Authors declares/declare that the article is free of plagiarism.
-
The Author/Authors declares/declare that funding and conflict of interest information has been included in the article.
-
The Author/Authors accepts/accept that the author is aware of the consequences of scientific dishonesty, which, once detected, will be documented and disclosed to the public, and information about it will be communicated to the relevant institutions (universities employing the authors, scientific societies, publishing houses, etc.).
-
The Author/Authors declares/declare to publish the text in the Multidisciplinary Journal of School Education under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-ND 4.0).
- For one Author. Please complete the Author Statement and send it to the editorial office. Please download, complete, scan and attach the file in the system during the submission process.
Download: Author Statement -
For more than one Author. The Authors declare to bear complete responsibility for the scientific reliability of the article submitted. The detailed contribution of all co-authors is defined. Please complete the Authors Statement-Authorship Contributions and send it to the editorial office. Please indicate the specific contributions made by each author (list the authors’ initials, e.g., JKH). Please download, complete, scan and attach the file in the system during the submission process.
Download: Authors Statement - Authorship Contributions
