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| Unit name |
Education, Schooling and Diversity |
| Unit code |
SPOL10015 |
| Credit points |
20 |
| Level of study |
C/4
|
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
|
| Unit director |
Professor. Debbie Watson |
| Open unit status |
Open |
| Pre-requisites |
None
|
| Co-requisites |
None
|
| School/department |
School for Policy Studies |
| Faculty |
Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Description including Unit Aims
This unit will consider the diverse and often competing purposes of education and the relationship between discourses of education and formal schooling. We will take a critical and post-structural perspective on contemporary education in England and consider the nature of formal schooling that has evolved since the advent of the social welfare state and the impact of politics and ideologies on these. Themes that we will study in depth are the curricula developments since the 1988 Education Act in compulsory schooling and the relationships between knowledge, learning and assessment. Underpinning this unit will be a consideration of the diversity of learners and learning contexts and we will address some of the complexities of gender, culture, ethnicity, ability and special educational needs in classrooms and the role that education can play in combating societal inequalities. Through assessment we will encourage critical reflection on students own learning processes.
Aims:
- To have a broad understanding of the English education system;
- Understand that curriculum developments are never value neutral and that political will and ideological commitments always impinge upon decisions related to education and schooling;
- To understand the diversity of learners and some of the complex issues faced by teachers and educators in responding to this;
- To consider the origins of formal knowledge and the diverse forms that knowledge can take;
- To challenge the simplistic assumptions often made about the relationship between knowledge and learning;
- To be critical of assessment processes and understand the limitations of these in providing information related to learning and achievement;
- To have a broad understanding of the variety of schooling provisions and the philosophies that underpin these;
- To have an understanding of the role of museums, hands-on science exploratory’s and natural environments in children’s learning;
- To relate constructions of childhood and children to educational processes;Critique specific curricula developments that aim to broaden the formal curriculum and give attention to emotional health and well-being in schools.
Having studied this unit students should be able to:
- Bring a more critical understanding of children and young people’s learning and education;
- Develop their own reflective learning capabilities;
- Challenge simplistic and causal relationships in the consideration of learning and learners;
- Critique the content, objectives and ideologies underpinning contemporary curriculum developments;
- Develop their own critical reading;
- Use theoretical ideas to develop deeper understandings of their own learning processes.
Intended Learning Outcomes
Having studied this unit students should be able to:
- Bring a more critical understanding of children and young people’s learning and education;
- Develop their own reflective learning capabilities;
- Challenge simplistic and causal relationships in the consideration of learning and learners;
- Critique the content, objectives and ideologies underpinning contemporary curriculum developments;
- Develop their own critical reading;
- Use theoretical ideas to develop deeper understandings of their own learning processes.
Teaching Information
Lectures, seminar classes and workshops.
Field trip to a learning site e.g. museum/ science exploratory/ farm, in order to consider diversity issues in educational environments.
Assessment Information
Formative assessment:
Group presentation of a learning resource developed from the field trip; Ongoing reflective journal on learning experiences;
Summative assessment:
Theorised learning biography (3,000 words).
Reading and References
- Blundell, D. (2012) Education and Constructions of Childhood, Contiuum.
- Cole, M. (2006) Education, Equality and Human Rights, Taylor and Francis Ltd.
- Freire, P. (2005) (New Ed.) Education for Critical Consciousness, Continuum International Publishing Group.
- Holt, J. (2004) Instead of Education: ways to help people do things better, Sentient Publishers.
- Illeris, K. (2009) Contemporary Theories of Learning, Routledge.
- Illeris, K. (2007) How we Learn, Routledge.
- Race, R. (2011) Multiculturalism and Education, Continuum.
- Nind, M., Rix, J., Sheehy, K., Simmons, K. (2003) Inclusive Education: diverse perspectives, David Fulton Publishers.
- Thomas, G. & Loxley, A. (2007) Deconstructing Special Education and Constructing Inclusion, OUP.
