Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be expected to
understand the relationship between education, economy and politics
understand the factors that influence the change and development of educational institutions
be able to analyze the ideological aspects of curricula
realize the professional characteristics of the educational activity, as a form of intellectual work, and the factors that affect its quality
Course Content (Syllabus)
The course aims to familiarize students with the basic concepts and theories of Sociology and Education.
This course examines the institution of education within the social totality and in its interactions with the spheres of economy, politics and ideology. The course exposes the ways in which social relations determine the character of education, the access to its various levels and the content of curricula. I adition to that it is examined the specificity of the institution of education, its relative autonomy from other social institutions and the ways in which it influences them.
The course includes the following modules:
1. Introduction to Sociology (Comte, Spencer, Marx) and to Sociology of Education
2. The transition to industrial society and the genesis of the institution of education
3. National state and education
4. The school as an institution for social stability. The theory of Émile Durkheim
5. The Functionalist Theory of education
6. Education and economic development. The theory of Human Capital
7. Marxist theories of education. The Correspondence Theory
8. Education and Ideology
9. The New Sociology of Education
10. The Resistance Theory
11. The Hidden Curriculum Theory
12. Language and school performance
13. The Theory of Cultural Capital
14. The role of teachers in the educational system
15. Education from the “social” to the “neoliberal” state
Additional bibliography for study
D.Blackledge, B.Hunt, Κοινωνιολογία της εκπαίδευσης, κεφ.2,7,12
Π.Γούναρη, Γ.Γρόλλιος(επ.)Κριτική παιδαγωγική, κεφ.3