Postgraduate Course: Education Policy (PGSP11439)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Education has gone through several enormous transformations in the last half century, in common with public services more generally. This course investigates key trends in education policy within the UK and from a comparative perspective, the political debates which have accompanied them and the impact educational policy has had on individuals and society. We will engage with perennial questions in education policy debates: the interplay between education, the economy and democracy; the relationship between educational opportunity, social diversity and inequality; the role of the state, the market and the individual within new forms of educational governance; and the future of national education policy within an increasingly international policy field. |
| Course description |
Course content
What is education for?
Education and equality of opportunity: moral and philosophical perspectives
Education and intersectional inequalities
Education and social mobility: international comparative perspectives
Globalisation and education policy
Education governance and the OECD
Curriculum debates
Professionals and policy making in education
Education, democracy and populism
Reflections: education policy during a pandemic
Student Learning
Each of the topics is dealt with through a lecture and a seminar discussion.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2021/22, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 40 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
There are two components to the assessment:
(1) 1,000-word policy brief (worth 25% of final marks), due by about the middle of the semester. The policy brief should be based on one of several research reports which will be provided to you by the end of the second week of the semester.
(2) 3,000-word essay (worth 75% of final marks), due by about three weeks after the end of the semester. The essay topics will be provided to you by the end of the sixth week of the semester.
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| Feedback |
Feedback is provided on the first item of assessment noted below, well before the deadline for the second assessment. The main form of feedback is through the discussion that takes place at the seminars noted in 1c. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Critically evaluate the nature of education as a social institution
- analyse objectively the deeply controversial issues that provoke debates about educational policy by engaging with different points of view and empirical evidence;
- critically assess the importance of power in the governance of and practice of education;
- seek systematically to understand the relationship between education and social diversity;
- conceptualise the relationship between education and democracy.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Lindsay Paterson
Tel: (0131 6)51 6380
Email: Lindsay.Paterson@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Cath Thompson
Tel: (0131 6)51 3892
Email: cthomps7@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
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