This interdisciplinary textbook provides an introduction to the many theoretical developments and controversies which took place in the sociology and politics of education during the 1970s and 80s. The book Discusses the arguments concerning humanist and structuralist Marixsm. Provides a clear and concise introduction to structuralism and post-structuralism (work of Derrida, Lacan and Foucault) and theorises in the ways they contribute to Marxism or are subversive of it. Relates these theoretical perspectives to education and the practice of teachers.

This book presents a series of research biographies based on research experiences in the study of educational settings. The main aim is to provide a set of first person accounts on doing research that combine analysis with description. The contributors have been drawn from the disciplines of sociology and educational studies and have all conducted ethnographic work or case studies in a variety of educational settings.

Mini-set L: Sociology of Education re-issues 48 volumes originally published between 1928 and 1990. The books in this mini-set discuss: Teaching and social change, research processes in education, class, race, culture and education, marxist perspectives in the sociology of education, the family and education, the sociology of the classroom and school organization.

This volume of topical working papers makes available to teachers and to others information intended to stimulate discussion so that all educators may bring their judgement and experience to bear on the concerns of the School Council and contribute to its work. The papers describe plans for curriculum development projects at their formative stages, when comment can be particularly helpful; report on conferences and summarize findings and opinions on debated questions about the curriculum and examination in schools.

First published in 1973 Professor Akenson's book traces the series of religious and political controversies which have battered the state schools of Northern Ireland. After the government's admirably intentioned, but muddled, attempt to create a non-sectarian school system in the early 1920s, the educational system was progressively manipulated by sectarianism. The way in which the author describes how children are schooled reveals a great deal about the attitudes and values of the parental generation and also helps to explain the actions of later generations.

This book gives a comprehensive account of what happened to higher education in Austria, Belgium, the former Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Greece, Holland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Russia and the former Yugoslavia during 1938-1944. It reveals the mentality of the German cultural experts and it describes the reactions of the peoples in the occupied countries.

Since the Great Debate' on education was launched in 1976, the need to bring greater coherence to the secondary curriculum has been generally recognized but to be effective, a new curriculum design must be implemented, and the process of planned educational change must be understood. Regenerating the Curriculum traces the social and political climate which led to a rejection of piecemeal change, and examines the implications of school-based development of the whole curriculum for national projects, for in-service training, and for the management of change processes in the school. It considers the need for new professional styles for head and teacher, and the role of external change agencies, and looks at the influence on the learning process of a unified curriculum based on a selection from the culture. Finally, the political context of curriculum change is studied at national, regional and local levels along with the emergent concept of accountability and its implication for authority structures in education.This book sets out the possible patterns of change in schools, local authorities and national policies, and suggests a number of strategies for regenerating the curriculum in the climate of evaluation and innovation that lies ahead.

Developments and trends in Communist education are traced in this authoritative survey by specialists. Eight chapters deal with particular aspects: ideology, psychology, the selective process, the roles of teachers and parents, polytechnical education, the universities and professional institutes. Three chapters survey the former East Germany, Poland and China as special case-studies. A concluding chapter examines common ground between Communist and other systems.

The American ideal has exercised a powerful influence over English educational policy over the last two centuries, even as it has itself changed. Today the very size of America enables it to rehearse problems we shall meet tomorrow. This volume answers key questions for education, as relevant now as they were when it was originally published: Is there an optimal size and a maximal use of a school? Are there adequately sophisticated batteries of attainment tests? Or valid methods of vocational guidance?

In this volume the author discusses the influence of France from the Norman invasion to the late 1960s. French thought and ideas are examined and more tangible evidence is also given of the widespread and often unnoticed influence that France has exerted on English education.

This book provides a comprehensive survey of the successes and failures of education and training in the Khrushchev and Breshnev years. The author gives an objective assessment of the accessibility of the main types of institution, of the contents of courses and of Soviet attempts to marry the functioning of their education system to their perceived economic and social needs. In addition the book has many useful and original features: For ease of analysis it summarises in diagram form complex statistics which are not usually brought together for so long a time period. It provides a systematic account of educational legislation; Matthews' comparison of series of official decrees will allow subtle shifts in government policy to be accurately charted. Particular attention is also paid to a number of issues that are often neglected: the employment problems of school and college graduates; the role and professional status of teachers; political control and militarisation in schools; the close detail of higher education curricula; and the rate of student failure. Of special value is the chapter on those educational institutions which are often omitted from Western studies and which are hardly recognised as such in most official Soviet sources.

Mini-set A: Comparative Education re-issues 11 volumes originally published between 1945 and 1983 and covers educational theory and practice from the UK, France, Germany, Russia, America, Africa and Asia.

This book addresses the question What should be taught in schools and why?'. The book begins by stressing the way in which such a question should be approached and goes on to offer a comprehensive and stringent critique of a variety of principles for the selection of curriculum content, with particularly important sections on deschooling and the hidden culture curriculum theory. The final chapter contains the positive curricular recommendations, with virtually every candidate for curriculum time examined and assessed in respect of its educational worth.

This book deals with curriculum issues and problems, and one of its aims is to help practising teachers to clarify their own theory and practice in relation to the curriculum. The contributors look at three popular theories or sets of assumptions held by teachers: the child-centred view of education; the subject-centred or knowledge-centred view; and the society-centred view. Each of these views is incomplete on its own, but each has something to contribute in planning a curriculum as a whole, and the authors emphasize that a comprehensive theory of curriculum planning would take into account the individual nature of the pupil and also recognize the social value of education. This kind of comprehensive curriculum planning has been described as the situation-centred curriculum, based on the idea that schools should be concerned with preparing the young for the world as it will be when they leave school. One of the purposes of education is to develop a child's autonomy; he or she must learn to cope with the variety of situations which will face him or her in society. Thus many different approaches must be employed in establishing a basis for the complex task of curriculum planning. The book draws on the disciplines of philosophy, psychology, history and sociology to suggest new approaches to curriculum objectives and evaluation. It considers the theoretical bases of curriculum models, practical issues of planning, evaluation and pedagogy and discusses some urgent contemporary questions about the politics and control of the curriculum.

Teachers are, and always have been seen as agents of respectability in our society, but today this role is far less easily defined than it once was. Now, for most teachers, the whats and hows of moral behaviour, guidance and instruction have become debatable issues. In this book the author gives us a readable and original sociological consideration of the teaching oughts' and ought-nots' which, by providing a valuable analytic framework within which to view moral education, should help the thinking of those who are concerned with some of the most intractable problems of contemporary education.

Beginning with descriptions of the ways in which children make sense of their experience and the world, such as fantasy, stories and games, Egan constructs his argument that constituting this foundational layer are sets of cultural sense-making capacities, reflected in oral cultures throughout the world. Egan sees education as the acquisition of these sets of sense-making capacities, available in our culture, and his goal is to conceptualize primary education in a way that over comes the dichotomy between progressivisim and traditionalism, attending both the needs of the individual child and the accumulation of knowledge.

This book does not cover the whole field of Infants' Teaching but is concerned mainly with general principles and matters which are open to the non-specialist. Some technical subjects such as Physical Education have been omitted but nonetheless the volume provides a thorough (if somewhat dated) introduction to early years education in the first half of the twentieth century.

Published long before the importance of early childhood education was formally recognised in the educational landscape this book explores the significance of play for young children. The volume includes an appendix on Montessori education.

This volume was originally prepared for the World Conference on Church, Community and State held in Oxford in 1937. Its aim was to understand the nature of the vital conflict between the Christian faith and the secular tendencies of the early twentieth century, particularly in relation to education. The book also analyses the responsibilities of the Church in this struggle.

Within a single educational system that of England and Wales the nature of schooling available to a child can be dramatically different. Even between residential areas the differences in educational climate can be striking. Apart from differences in the organization of schools and the availability of buildings, teachers and resources, there are also significant ideological variations between local education authorities. This book considers the evidence of such differences, some of the environmental factors (political, social and economic) that may account for their distribution, and the consequences that appear to spring from them.

Starratt 's highly original book offers fresh insights into the nature of teaching, learning, schooling as a multi-cultural, social enterprise, and the importance of vision for that leadership by using the analogy of drama. Schooling is a preparation to participate in the social drama, both as an individual and as a community. Beyond participation, schooling can enable youngsters to maintain and restore the human purposes of the social drama. This unique book accommodates present critics of schools from both the left and the right, but goes beyond them to offer a script for restoring the schools to their human and social purposes.

This volume concentrates on the processes and practices of formal education, which shaped, and were shaped by, imperial values, attitudes and behaviour. It is concerned with:

• The myths and visions of imperialism;
• The nature and extent of ethnocentric attitudes, declared and undeclared;
• The use of education as a means of disseminating and reinforcing imperial images;
• The changing concept of imperialism as reflected in the emphases of educational literature
• The different perceptions of imperialism in the various social and ethnic strata of metropolitan and overseas communities and education systems
• The assimiliation, adaptation and rejection of metropolitan educational models
• The issue of imperial education as enlightenment, hegemony and control.

The book features chapters by educationalists, historians and sociologists on education as a cornerstone in the construction of imperial control.

This book begins with an analysis of the gradual extension of educational opportunities for women since the nineteenth century, with special attention given to the period since 1944. There is careful exploration of the interaction between the family and the school, and an examination of their role as institutions which help to maintain the existing class relations, sexual division of labour and ideology of a capitalist society. Rosemary Deem also looks at how these institutions differentiate the socialization, culture and education of girls from that of boys, and considers the implications of the Sex Discrimination Act and the Equal Opportunities Commission for education.

Schools reflect the society which surrounds them but they must also be agents of change. When first published, this book argued that, for a variety of reasons, schools and other educational institutions enforce a set of gender roles more rigid than those current in wider society, leading to a repetitive pattern of under-achievement, particularly amongst working class girls. The last decade has seen an explosion of research on gender and education and, in this updated edition, Sara Delamont examines new research findings and strategies for change, continuing to argue that both sexes lose out from sexist schooling.

Do girls do better in single-sex or co-educational schools?

Up to now, discussion has centred on girls academic achievements in single or mixed-sex groups, but Pat Mahony 's research clearly demonstrates that this is not the only issue, and that co-education is damaging for girls socially as well as academically. She challenges the argument that co-education is desirable because it is more normal. Her research reveals that it is normal for girls to be put down in class, to be verbally abused and sexually harassed by boys, and yes, this will be their normal experience as women. But does this justify the way girls are treated in schools? Pat Mahony goes on to explore some of the reasons behind this state of affairs and suggests that the answer lies in sexual politics, not biology.

The book concludes with practical suggestions for bringing about change in schools, including case-studies from existing projects.