Aims

By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- present up-to-date pictures of education policies in the west and in countries of the south;
- to describe the development of these policies by gathering them together in a general schema;
- present the main theoretical schemes of education sociology;
- to produce an analysis and identify the issues of present-day education policies in the west and in the south;
- mobilise theoretical referents appropriately in order to back up their analysis.

Main themes

A presentation of the history of education policies (from the beginning of compulsory schooling to the present day) and of the main theories of education sociology by establishing links between the two developments. The question of the functions assigned to education at different periods will be central to this presentation.
A presentation of the main works of the sociology of inequality in education. Attempts at the present time to extend beyond this paradigm will also be presented together with an examination of the explosion of subjects ranging from the analysis of establishments to the analysis of the orientations of education policies.
Two case studies will focus on a western country and on a country of the south.

Content and teaching methods

The course will consist of a series of talks focusing on the major issues listed in the Course specification.
How was the decision reached? By which bodies? And with what justification? What democratic control was in place? What are the foreseeable effects of applying Bologna to national education systems? What concrete effects have decentralisation policies had on the structuring of education in African countries? What role do supranational organisations now play in defining education policies?
Particular attention will be drawn to the current situation as regards education policies. If an important issue develops during the term when the course is taking place, some of each session will be given over to collective work on it, using factual information brought in by the teacher, and even the students, and theoretical referents studied during the course.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

There will be an oral examination in which students may use reference books. Students may replace one of the two questions with personal work, the subject of which must have been previously approved by the teacher.
A syllabus.

Other credits in programs