Child Neglect in Public Sector Education Systems: A Comparative Sociolegal Analysis of Policies and Practicesin Pakistan and Portugal

Programa de Doutoramento: Sociologia do Estado, do Direito e da Justiça

Abstract

This research investigates institutional child neglect within public education systems through a comparative sociolegal analysis of Pakistan and Portugal, two states occupying structurally distinct positions in the global landscape of child protection governance. Moving beyond the dominant family-centred paradigm, the study theorises the school as both a potential site of institutional neglect and a potential mechanism of protection, and asks how national legal frameworks, institutional mechanisms, and socio-cultural contexts determine which role the school assumes. Grounded in Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory and Putnam's Social Capital Theory, and employing a qualitative, multi-site comparative design, the research combines semi-structured institutional interviews with key stakeholders, focus group discussions with students, ethnographic observation in selected public schools, and systematic policy and legislative analysis. The comparison is structured as a Most Different Systems Design (MDSD), in which the two countries are selected precisely because they differ on key explanatory variables, enabling analytical leverage on the causal mechanisms that produce or suppress protective outcomes. Findings will advance theoretical knowledge about institutional neglect, contribute to the sociology of law literature on implementation gaps between child rights norms and institutional practice, and generate context-sensitive policy recommendations for child protection reform in both countries and in analogous educational governance contexts worldwide.