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Sociology of educational knowledge: Educational policy, educational knowledge, pedagogic identities – 5 ECTS
Lecturer- co-ordinator: Prof Anna Tsatsaroni
Course Description
The course aims at a systematic and critical approach to educational policies, focusing on the new forms of governance of educational systems, in relation to educational knowledge and pedagogic identities. This thematic unit utilises the main sociological theories, which are the object of study of the First Semester, in order to review, study and analyse critically the research production in the fields of the sociology of educational knowledge and educational policy, with particular emphasis on contemporary studies, referring to the following topics: (a) Globalisation and educational policy in the European space. (b) New models of “professionalism” in the field of education. (c) Changes in the organisational structures, the programmes of study and the pedagogical practices. (d) Knowledge and governance in the framework of contemporary educational policies. (e) The methodology of (pedagogic) discourse analysis. The study of these topics as well as the examination of the work of contemporary sociologists, such as Stephen Ball and Roget Dale, creates a wide base and a rich theoretical background that helps to initiate students to the research practices of these specialised fields.
Objectives
The main objectives of the course are:
- The creation of a wide and rich theoretical basis for studying educational policies and practices, through the systematic and critical reading and reviewing of the field of research.
- The recognition that new forms of governance in the field of education provide an important axis in the critical examination of dominant forms of knowledge and identity.
- The systematic engagement with methodological issues in the sociological educational research.
- The initiation of students into the methodology of discourse analysis, for the critical examination, reading and systematic description of political/pedagogical texts and practices.
Learning Outcomes
Upon the successful completion of the course students should be able to:
- Understand the significance of specialised sociological knowledge in analysing changes in the forms of governance of the field of education.
- Understand, describe and analyse critically the relationships between forms of governance and the value fields of knowledge and identity.
- Use adequately the relevant scientific literature in the study of European and national policies for education, in the contemporary globalised environment.
- Have basic theoretical knowledge and methodological tools for analysing policies and for the critical reading of the relevant research.
- Pose critical questions, in relation to the content and the processes of policy formation in the current conditions.
- Identify the critical policy issues and developments in a rapidly changing environment.
- Develop specialised tools of discourse analysis for the critical exploration and description of specific policies.
Competencies: Search different sources, organise information, critical reading of texts, critical appreciation of theories, analysis and synthesis of information and data, work in international environments, teamwork.
Teaching/ learning methods
Teaching is in the form of lectures and seminars. It presupposes individual study, team-work, and students’ participation in: (a) the discussion of the proposed literature week by week, and (b) the critical reading, presentation and discussion of the relevant research work.
Students’ assessment
The evaluation takes account of:
- Students’ active participation in the educational process, which presupposes systematic study, week by week, of the proposed literature sources (20% of the total score).
- Students’ performance in a written essay reviewing the literature or doing a book review. The essay will be up to 5.000 words, and will be the product of students working in small groups of three (80%).
Βibliography
Ball, S. J. (1994) Education Reform. A critical and post-structural approach, Buckingham, U.K., Open University Press.
Ball, S. (2004) Performativities and fabrications in the education economy: towards the performative society, in S.J. Ball (ed) The RoutledgeFalmer Reader in Sociology of Education, London, RoutledgeFalmer (pp., 143-155).
Ball, S. (2007) Big Policies/small world: an introduction to international perspectives in education policy, in B. Lingard & J. Ozga (eds) The RoutledgeFalmer Reader in Education Policy and Politics, London, Routledge (pp., 36-47).
Ball, S.J., Maguire, M. and Braun, A. (2012) How Schools Do Policy: Policy Enactments in Secondary Schools, London, Routledge.
Ball, S.J. & Tamboukou, M. (eds) (2003) Dangerous Encounters. Genealogy and ethnography, New York, Peter Lang.
Ball, S. & Youdell, D. Η κρυφή ιδιωτικοποίηση στη δημόσια εκπαίδευση. Διαθέσιμο στο http://www.doe.gr/11/ipem240511.pdf
Beck, J. (2008) Governmental professionalism: Reprofessionalising teachers in England? British Journal of Educational Studies, 56(2), 119-143
Beck, J. (2009) Appropriating professionalism: restructuring the official knowledge base of England’s ‘modernised’ teaching profession, British Journal of Sociology of Education, vol. 30(1), 3-14.
Beck, J. & Young, M. (2005) The assault on the professions and the restructuring of academic and professional identities: a Bernsteinian analysis, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 26(2), 183-197.
Carvalho, L.M. (2012). The fabrication and travels of a knowledge-policy instrument, European Education Research Journal. 11(2), 172-184.
Dale, R. & Robertson, S. (eds) (2009) Globalisation & Europeanisation in Education, U.K., Symposium Books.
Doherty, R. (2007). Critically framing education policy: Foucault, Discourse and Governmentality, in M. Peters & T. (A.C.) Besley (eds) Why Foucault? New Directions in Educational Research. New York, Peter Lang (p.p. 193-204).
Dowling, P. & Brown, A. (2010) Doing Research/Reading Research. Re-interrogating education, London, Routledge (second edition).
Fairclough, N. (2008). Analysing Discourse. Textual analysis for social research. London, Routledge.
Fejes, A. & Nicoll, K. (eds) (2008), Foucault and Lifelong learning. Governing the subject, London, Routledge.
Lawn M. & Grek, S. (2012). Europeanizing Education: governing a new policy space. Oxford, Symposium Books.
Novoa, A. (2002) Ways of thinking about education in Europe, in A. Novoa, & M. Lawn, (eds) (2002) Fabricating Europe. The Formation of an Education Space, Dordrecht, Kluwer, Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Ozga, J. (2009) Governing education through data in England: from regulation to self-evaluation, Journal of education Policy, 24(2), 149-162.
Ozga , J. (2012). Governing Knowledge: data, inspection and education policy in Europe. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 10(4), 439-455.
Phillips, L. & Jorgensen, M. (2002/2009). Discourse analysis as Theory and Method, London, Sage.
Rizvi, F. & Lingard B. (2010) Globalising Education Policy, London, Routledge.
Seddon, T.L. & Levin, J. (eds), (2013), World Yearbook of Education 2013 Educators, Professionalism and Politics: Global Transitions, National Spaces and Professional Projects, New York, Routledge.
Important scientific journals in the field
European Education Research Journal
Journal of Education Policy
British Journal of Sociology of Education
Globalisation, Societies and Education
International Studies in Sociology of Education
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