What is the study of education?
Throughout your education, you will have studied a range of subjects at both primary and secondary level. Some of you will also have studied at FE colleges or in HE institutions. You may also have engaged in some studies away from schools, in youth clubs, summer schemes and at various other locations. Prior to any formal educational experiences in institutions, you will no doubt have learnt to walk, talk, interact with others in social situations, and perhaps even read and write.
If you were educated in England, you will no doubt have attended a primary school and a secondary school where you will have studied a range of subjects; some you will have enjoyed while others less so. You will have had excellent inspiring teachers and others whose impact upon you was not so positive. You have no doubt jockeyed for position among those you attended school with, your peers. You no doubt received punishments, some fair, others not, and at times received rewards and praise. You may have received high levels of support from your family or carers or perhaps you were left to develop your own interest in education.
In short, you have received an education and even in this short introductory text, we can begin to see that education is not solely about the content of the subjects that you learnt but instead is multifaceted and complex and involves much more than those elements which may immediately spring to mind when discussing it. The study of education, therefore, at first glance differs significantly from many of the subjects you will have studied before, in that it examines, in detail, a process as opposed to a subject area.
Throughout this book, you will find a range of issues relevant to the study of education. The list is not exhaustive, nor is designed to be so. This is not a book that will tell you how either to teach or how to learn. Instead, it will raise issues that will enable you to begin to understand the power and importance of education. It will open up ideas of why and how people succeed and fail within it. It will demonstrate the political nature of the education process and how education can be used to support, develop, change and challenge society. For those of you who plan to work in the education field, in whatever capacity, Education Studies can develop that deeper understanding of the process enabling you to be a more effective and a more knowledgeable practitioner
If you were educated in England, you will no doubt have attended a primary school and a secondary school where you will have studied a range of subjects; some you will have enjoyed while others less so. You will have had excellent inspiring teachers and others whose impact upon you was not so positive. You have no doubt jockeyed for position among those you attended school with, your peers. You no doubt received punishments, some fair, others not, and at times received rewards and praise. You may have received high levels of support from your family or carers or perhaps you were left to develop your own interest in education.
In short, you have received an education and even in this short introductory text, we can begin to see that education is not solely about the content of the subjects that you learnt but instead is multifaceted and complex and involves much more than those elements which may immediately spring to mind when discussing it. The study of education, therefore, at first glance differs significantly from many of the subjects you will have studied before, in that it examines, in detail, a process as opposed to a subject area.
Throughout this book, you will find a range of issues relevant to the study of education. The list is not exhaustive, nor is designed to be so. This is not a book that will tell you how either to teach or how to learn. Instead, it will raise issues that will enable you to begin to understand the power and importance of education. It will open up ideas of why and how people succeed and fail within it. It will demonstrate the political nature of the education process and how education can be used to support, develop, change and challenge society. For those of you who plan to work in the education field, in whatever capacity, Education Studies can develop that deeper understanding of the process enabling you to be a more effective and a more knowledgeable practitioner
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