A Political Sociology Of Education Policy

Critical education policy research has a long tradition of political sociology. Drawing on data and analysis from the Education Policy Knowledgeable Polity (EPKP) project, supported by funders such as the British Academy and the Economic and Social Research Council, this book presents a new political sociology for framing, conducting and presenting critical education policy research. In doing so, it will be the first in the field to interconnect political thinking from Arendt with sociological thinking from Bourdieu, producing innovative analysis for and about educational reform.

This book aims to restore the role of political analysis in education policy by presenting a new political sociology for framing, conducting and presenting research. In doing so, it will be the first in the field to connect political thinking from Arendt with sociological thinking from Bourdieu.

Bringing together the sociology of knowledge, cultural studies, and post-foundational and historical approaches, this book asks what schooling does, and what are its limits and dangers. The focus is on how the systems of reason that govern schooling embody historically generated rules and standards about what is talked about, thought, and acted on; about the "nature" of children; about the practices and paradoxes of educational reform. These systems of reason are examined to consider issues of power, the political, and social exclusion. The transnational perspectives interrelate historical and ethnographic studies of the modern school to explore how curriculum is translated through social and cognitive psychologies that make up the subjects of schooling, and how educational sciences "act" to order and divide what is deemed possible to think and do. The central argument is that taken-for-granted notions of educational change and research paradoxically produce differences that simultaneously include and exclude.

Based on interviews with key actors in the policy-making process, this book maps the changes in education policy and policy making in the Thatcherite decade. The focus of the book is the 1988 Education Reform Act, its origins, purposes and effects, and it looks behind the scenes at the priorities of the politicians, civil servants and government advisers who were influential in making changes. Using direct quotations from senior civil servants and former secretaries of state it provides a fascinating insight into the way in which policy is made. The book focuses on real-life political conflicts, examining the way in which education policy was related to the ideal of society projected by Thatcherism. It looks in detail at the New Right government advisers and think tanks; the industrial lobby, addressing issues such as the National Curriculum, national testing and City Technical Colleges. The author sets these important issues within a clear theoretical framework which illuminates the whole process of policy making.

This book uses international and interdisciplinary approaches to the comparative study of education in its political, sociological, and economic contexts. Major topics include critical theory, hegemony, postmodernism, oppression, disabilities, emancipation, corporatism, meritocracy, democracy, socialization, reproduction, pluralism, inequality, social analysis, postindustrialism, predatory culture, pragmatism, and 'subversion'. Educators from the US, UK, Canada, Netherlands, FRG, Israel, and Sweden survey the current educational scene in the US and Western Europe, major policy debates, and possible solutions for current public policy dilemmas.

This book, first published in 1988, examines the most contentious issues in contemporary education. The political, social, educational and geographical impact of changes in the provision of educational services are discussed and illustrated through a wide range of case studies. Issues are examined from a number of different perspectives, amongst them those of the parent, the educational administrator and the organisational theorist, with the result that eh book is able to evaluate which changes are most consistent with the requirements of each group. This book will be of interest to students of sociology and education.

For courses in Sociology (Sociology of Education, Applied Social Studies, Research Methods, Family Studies); Education (Educational Studies, Educational Management and Teacher training - including B.Ed. and PGCE); Social Policy (Education Policy, Research Methods) and History (Contemporary History, Social History, Research Methods, Family Histories). It can also be used as a supplementary text on courses in Education Policy/Management options on Politics (Education Policy, Political Sociology, Research Methods); Psychology (Knowledge, Intelligence, Attitudes, Research Methods) and Public Administration (Education Administration, Education Management). This unusual multidisciplinary approach combines textbook and original research to provide an accessible introduction to the sociology of education, and the evolution of education in post-war Britain. The book reviews existing research findings and theories and uses family education histories to illustrate how changes in education have been personally experienced and responded to. The issues, systems, key theories and research methods are all clearly explained. In providing a fresh and stimulating source of information and new ideas Changing Education enables students and teachers to understand and challenge assumptions about what education has been, is, and should be like.