75086 - Education Systems and Policies

Learning outcomes

The course enables students to: be familiar with the structure of education systems; recognize the goals of knowledge transmission, socialization, and selection typically pursued by education systems; be knowledgeable about sociological theories dealing with education; understand selection mechanisms enacted via education systems; identify the interests of the various stakeholders involved in educational activities; grasp the key features of the comparative approach to the study of teaching and learning processes; apply a set of tools for analyzing educational policies (as pertains, for example, to social inequality), interpret them, convey their chief characteristics, and assess their outcomes.

Course contents

In the first part of the course, the lecturer will explain the basic concepts and definitions and provide an overview of the main reference theories, empirical research and documentary and data sources. Then, for each of the topics covered, there will be class discussions and source exercises to encourage participation and critical discussion.

The course will cover the following topics:

The emergence and development of education systems (school and university).

Education in the post-war period; from elite to mass education (school and university).

Education policies at macro, meso and micro levels.

Actors, objects and subjects of education today.

Education, training and lifelong learning.

Vocational education and training and lifelong learning.

The architecture of education systems.

The 'measurement' of education systems: from educational levels to competences.

Methods of analysing education systems: theory and practice.

Evaluation of education systems.

Educational and social inequalities,

Performance and inequalities in education systems (school and university).

The future of education systems and the digital age.

Readings/Bibliography

Mandatory Texts:

• European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Volante, L., Schnepf, S., Klinger, D. (2022). Cross-national achievement surveys for monitoring educational outcomes : policies, practices and political reforms within the European Union, Publications Office of the European Union. The book is available in open acces via this link

• Brint, S. G. (2017). Schools and societies (Third edition). Stanford Social Sciences, an imprint of Stanford University Press. 

The full list of readings for attending students will be announced in class.

 

Full list of readings for non-attending student:

• European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Volante, L., Schnepf, S., Klinger, D. (2022). Cross-national achievement surveys for monitoring educational outcomes : policies, practices and political reforms within the European Union, Publications Office of the European Union. The book is available in open acces via this link
  
  
• Brint, S. G. (2017). Schools and societies (Third edition). Stanford Social Sciences, an imprint of Stanford University Press.

 

Non-attending students are invited to contact the lecturer to check the texts used in the examination.

For students who have never studied sociology or the sociology of education, it is strongly recommended that they use the following dictionaries to facilitate the learning process (they are available via almastart):

• Ainsworth, J. (2013). Sociology of education : An A-to-Z guide.
• Scott, J. (2014). A Dictionary of Sociology. : Oxford University Press. üTurner, B. (Ed.). (2006).
• The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781316135334
  

Teaching methods

Lectures, group work, case studies.

Assessment methods

Students who regularly attend classes

• Participation in class and presentation (group or individual) of a topic covered during the course.
• Individual short paper (1000 words) analysing one of the topics covered in class. The topic will be agreed with the lecturer by the end of the course.
  

 

Non-attending students will be assessed through a final written examination lasting 1 hour and 30 minutes, focusing on open-ended questions concerning the indicated texts.

Teaching tools

Slides, papers, data from open access sources, documentary sources.

Office hours

See the website of Marialuisa Villani