Educating society: Sociological debates and dilemmas

Abstract

This chapter starts by considering what a sociology of education encompasses, and the kinds of issues it addresses. It then discusses some key concepts and debates within the sociology of education, making links to both classic texts and contemporary issues, and to some of the themes raised in the opening vignette. Increasingly, the quality of teachers’ work is linked to the test results of their students, and debates rage over the merits and fairness of this, whether such results should also form the basis for levels of teacher pay, and, indeed, whether these results should be made public at all. Education is also a dynamic field. It is embedded in broader social, economic, and political ch..