The purpose of Exploring Education is to provide prospective and practicing teachers with an introduction to the foundations of education: philosophy, politics, and sociology of education. We also draw on the research of anthropologists of education in a number of places. Chapters 1 through 5 provide a basic introduction to the value of the foundations perspective and to the politics, history, sociology, and philosophy of education. Chapters 6 through 10 apply the foundations of education to particular educational issues, including school organization and teaching, curriculum and pedagogic practices, education and inequality, and school reform and improvement. Our approach is not meant to be exhaustive. Rather, we have attempted to provide a research-and theory-based approach that demonstrates the usefulness of the foundations lens for thinking critically about and, hopefully, solving educational problems.
1. The Limits and Promises of Education: Toward Reflective
Practitioners
2. The Politics of Education: Conservative, Liberal, and Radical
Perspectives
3. The History of Education
4. The Sociology of Education
5. The philosophy of Education and Its Significance for
Teachers
6. Schools as Organizations and Teacher Professionalization
7. Curriculum, Pedagogy, and the Transmission of Knowledge
8. Equality of Opportunity and Educational Outcomes
9. Explanations of Educational Inequality
10. Educational Reform and School Improvement