Voicing Concerns: Sociological Perspectives on Contemporary Education Reforms.

Overview & Synopsis

The 11 papers in this book address, from a sociological perspective, a variety of contemporary educational reform issues in Great Britain. The papers examine the direction and role of sociological research in education. Sociology education has an important role to play in raising questions about the British educational system and its premises. The discipline has come under harsh attack by conservative politicians and educators in recent years. The papers include: "Parents and the State: How Has Social Research Informed Education Reforms?" (M. David); "Not in Front of the Children: Responding to Right Wing Agendas on Sexuality and Education" (L. Kelly); "Feminism, Education, and the New Right" (M. Arnot); "Special Needs: Personal Trouble or Public Issue?" (L. Barton, M. Oliver);"On the Specificity of Racism" (A. Gurnah); "Teachers' Responses to the Reshaping of Primary Education" (A. Pollard); "Staying On and Staying In: Comprehensive Schooling in the 1990s" (D. Halpin);"Whose Choice of Schools? Making Sense of City Technology Colleges" (T. Edwards, S. Gewirtz, G. Whitty); "Reconstructing Professionalism: Ideological Struggle in Initial Teacher Education" (J. Furlong); "The Reform of Higher Education" (G. Walford); and "Recovering from a Pyrrhic Victory? Quality, Relevance, and Impact in the Sociology of Education" (R. Dale). (DB)