About the Book

Book 1

In Block 1, Perspectives and Theories on Education, we will explore the many dimensions of education as also the viewpoints of thinkers who have contributed significantly to the core concept of education. After understanding the concept and dimensions of education, we will delve into the theoretical' approaches that place the subject in academic perspective. This Block is intended to provide comprehensive understanding of the basic concept of education which will lay the foundation for other Blocks in this course.

Unit 1, The Concept of Education, focuses on the concept of education in its multifarious guises as, preparation for social roles; cultivation of reasoning ability; learning what children want to know; and process of inculcation of values. This leads to the important issue of cultural dimension of education. We will discuss the cultural dimension of education particularly in the context of India wherein the elements of respect, concern, cooperation and sharing acquire significance. The need to look into the cultural dimension of education arises from the discontent with monolithic, 'western' system of education. The cultural dimension of education integrates the non-formal system of teaching-learning process with the formal system.

Unit 2, Theoretical Approaches, looks into the major theoretical approaches toward the understanding of the subject of education. We are aware that theoretical approaches differ from each other in terms of the emphasis they lay and perspective they employ to explain a phenomenon. This unit seeks to examine the concept of education and the role of education in society from the vantage point of functionalism, conflict theory, interactionism, and post modernism. Interestingly, while functionalism treats education as a means through which social order is maintained, the conflict theory adopts a completely different approach in treating education as a means through which powerful classes in society perpetuate ideological hegemony. Interactionism upholds that the nature of interaction of students with their teachers determines their position in the educational system. An effective education system is one in which students are encouraged to actively participate in all the aspects of the learning process. Postmodernism challenges the notion of compulsory education comprising the inculculation of reading-writing skills. It favours the inclusion of traditional skills and wisdom as part of education.

Unit 3, Thinkers on Education- I discusses the perspective of Indian thinkers on education. The thinkers included in this unit are those whose contribution to the field of education is widely acclaimed both in national and International circles. In the first Block we discussed the cultural dimension of education with thrust on the Indian situation. It is then only appropriate to understand in what way major Indian thinkers - Rabindranath Tagore, M.K. Gandhi, Sri Aurobindo, Jiddu Krishnamurti, and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan have incorporated the cultural elements into the education system. They offer a viable alternative to the western education model. We will also seek to understand how these thinkers have been able to articulate their ideas in specific situations.

unit 4, Thinkers on Education-II is based on the perspective of foreign thinkers on education. In this Unit we will study about the viewpoints of Leo Tolstoy, John Dewey, Antonio Gramsci, Paulo Freire, Basil Bernstin, Ivan Illich and Pierre Bourdieu. What comes out clearly is the fact that they agree that education is a means of (i) social reproduction and perpetuation of hierarchies in society; and (ii) accrediting the advantage of the privileged section of society. It is interesting to compare and contrast the ideas of Indian and foreign thinkers. All of them have explained the concept of education in a broad framework encomparising the development of inner potential and capabilities of an individual.

In Block 2, Pedagogy, Curriculum and knowledge, we will critically discuss the political context of education which incorporates the critics themes of education and state, ideology on the one hand and education and power on the other. It has been realized that education is largely influenced by political situation in a country. What information is amenable to transmission through education and who derives advantage from it is often determined by the state. These are core issues dealt with in the Block.

Unit 5, Education, Knowledge and Power, brings out the interrelationship of education with power and critically examines how the content of education in determined and how education reinstates social inequality. Educational institutions mirror social, economic, and political structures in society. The chief question addressed here is, what is worth knowing? The example of schooling in colonial states exemplifies the issue clearly. Here, schools served as an agency for reinforcing colonial structures. In the present day too, education in India perpetuates social inequalities.

Unit 6, Education, Nation-building, State and Ideology, sheds light on the role of education in nation-building. The stress is on the process of education for ideological indoctrination in favour of dominant section of society. Having understood that education is closely entwined with polities we will now explore has the state pushes ideas about nation-building in historical and contemporary framework through the process of education.

Unit 7, Politics of Education Curriculum, is based on the political dimension of determining the nature and content of knowledge that is considered appropriate for inclusion in the curriculum. We are aware that education has been used as a means to perpetuate the ideology of the state with the objective of strengthing its control over. Many of us are aware of the nation wide debate on the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) developed by the NCERT for school children few years ago. In this Unit we will discuss the issue with special reference to the situation in India.

In Block 3, Education, Social Processes and Institution we will understand how education is cross-linked with social institutions and social processes. In the previous Block we confined the role of education in nation building, reinforcing state ideology, and fostering political ends. In this Block we will take a step further to discuss education as a means by which (1) children acquire familiarity with social norms, conventions and codes of behaviour; and (ii) social change and social mobility are effected.

Unit 8, Education and Socialization, lays stress on the manner in which family to which a child belongs influences his/her response to experience(s) in school. It is widely accepted that performance and achievement of children in schools has as definite being primarily with their familial constraints, social class, caste, gender, and response of the peer group. Encouragement of parents material advantages and cultural interests, among others, play a significant role in the performance of children. It is found that a wide gap between the environment in home and school is difficult to cope with by children.

Unit 9, Education and Social Change, explores the issue of education as an agent of social change. We have discussed that educational system is governed by prevalent socio-economic and political power structures. It is, therefore, only logical that changes in the socio-economic or political structures in society bring about a change in the education system. It is also true that education system does acquire some degree of autonomy and develops ability to question dominant values and norms in society. In a broad sense as we shall see in the (Unit, education serves -to both maintain and bring about social change.

Unit 10, Education and Social Mobility, explains the relationship" between education and mobility of people from one status position to another. The focus is on the situation in India. In the previous Unit we studied the way in which education leads to social change in society which largely gets manifested in social mobility. Education equips people to more from a lower status position to a higher one. When this happens with one individual, all the family members experience a rise in their prestige. This not to establish that education smoothly leads to social mobility. There is often much resistance and restraint more so " in societies characterized by rigid stratification. In this Unit we will study precisely how education leads to social mobility and the implications this transition has on different aspects of society.

In Block 4, Education, Social and Human Development we will explore another dimension of education i.e. its role in social and human development. In the previous Block we discussed education in the broader framework of social process and social institution. We came to realize the education was the chief means though which change in society takes place. In this Block we will examine how change takes place at the individual level and at the societal level by way of enhancement of faculties and potentialities, choices and option on the one hand and empowerment of the marginalized section on the other.

Unit 11, Role of Education in Social and Human Development, discusses the international and national initiatives for integrating education which capacity building of the poor and the marginalized. We will begin with overview of the concepts of social and human development, as also their indicators. After that we will delve into the initiatives and experiments undertaken at the grassroots. A large number of the experiments demonstrate how it is possible to base education on local resources, wisdom and expertise.

Unit 12, Role of Education in Empowerment of the Marginalized, explores the present-day educational status of the marginalized sections of society in India and the chief concerns of education for them. As we have read in earlier Units, education has been used as a means for reinforcing the position of the dominant classes and promoting state ideology. In order that the imbalance is corrected education has to be employed as a medium through which the marginalized acquire the capability and confidence to participate in mainstream socio-economic processes. Education for empowerment is grounded in the twin notions of functioning and capability about which we will read in this Unit.

Unit 13, Education and the Policy of Positive Discrimination and Affirmative Action, discusses the need for policies of positive discrimination and affirmative act on for safeguaring the educational interests of marginalized people. "It is believed that education can become accessible to the marginalized people and function as a means for their empowerment when they are accorded special privileges, concessions and opportunities. The purpose is to safeguard the interests of the marginalized sections of society in a way that they are able to raise their social and economic position. In this Unit we will address the issues of access, retention and performance of students who avail the policies of positive discrimination.

Book 2

This is the second book of the course MSOE-001: Sociology of Education. In Book-l we have discussed at length the conceptual and theoretical dimensions of education and its interface with various social processes like construction of knowledge and power, nation building, politics of educational curriculum, socialization, social change and mobility, social and human development. There we have also discussed role of education for empowerment of marginalized and various policies and state directives meant for this purpose.

In this book we 'shall broadly be discussing the emerging dimensions of educational processes operating at different levels (primary, secondary and tertiary) and at diverse forms (public and private, conventional and open distance etc.) and at diverse circumstances (local and global). An attempt is made in this book to examine the local issues and forms of education, their functioning, problems and transformations by locating them within the wider world. Indeed local issues are contextualized within the broad processes of multiculturalism, constitutional and legislative mandate for educational well being of the community, globalization, liberalization, formulation of international treaties like General Agreements in Trade in Services (GATT), penetration of ICTs, commercialization and commodification of education and the emergence of alternative discourse of education through the open and distance learning system. The issues are thematically arranged in four blocks i.e. Block- 5, 6, 7 and 8. Let us have an over view of the themes these Blocks.

Block-5 is on Educational System: Comparative Perspective. In this Block we have explained the emerging systems and state of education in a comparative perspective. In a limited space it is not possible for us to describe the state of the educational system of the whole world. We have rather been very specific to narrate you the case studies of SAARC and the European countries. As you understand we live increasingly in a plural and multicultural societies, which is facilitated by the forces of globalization.

The dimension of multicultural education is discussed in Unit 14, titled Education: Pluralism and Multiculturalism. This Unit begins with a discussion on the significance of pluralism and multiculturalism in educational system. Here we have discussed the interface among society, culture and multiculturalism, dimensions and goals of multicultural education and strategies and approaches adopted in multicultural education citing examples from its practice in the United States. We have also given a small case study from Australia to acquaint you with the emerging facets of multiculturalism in the changing world.

Unit 15, Education in SAARC Countries: Case Study-I, deals with the state of education in the SAARC countries taking examples from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It also explains the educational reforms and strategies adopted by the SAARC countries in the recent years. Unit 16, on Education in Europe: Case Study-II, deals with education in Europe focusing on Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Portugal and United Kingdom. It explains in brief the state of primary, secondary, senior secondary and tertiary education in Europe.

The theme of Block 6 is Educational Systems in India. It discusses the growth and expansion of and constitutional provision for educational well being of the disadvantaged section of the society, aspect of universalization of primary education and crisis in higher education. Unit 17 which is on Education:

Expansion and Growth, deals with the expansion and growth of education in India by elucidating its growth through the ages, illustrating the limitation and strength of education system of pre-Independent India. It discusses at length the process of expansion of education in Independent India and the process of its diversification into various streams of education.

The Constitutional Provisi.ons .and Educational Policies in India are dealt with in Unit 18. Besides dealing with various constitutional provisions pertaining to education it also deals with various national policies in India for example National Policy on Education 1968, National Policy of India 1986, Programme of Action of National Policy of Education in 1992. Various issues and collectivities identified in this policies and provisions are discussed at length. Unit 19 deals with Universalization of Elementary Education. It discusses the structure of elementary education of contemporary India highlighting various new initiatives, innovation and strategies adopted to achieve the goal of unversalization of elementary education in recent years. You must be knowing that teachers education and teachers training for universalization of elementary education these are also been covered in this Unit.

The education system 'fn India is undergoing a process of transition and in this process it has created several crises. Unit 20 deals with Crises in Higher Education. Besides discussing the history and evolution of higher education these unit discusses the major issues and challenges encountered by the higher education system in India especially in the wake of privatization, commodification of higher education.

In the wake of globalization and introduction of structural adjustment programme, education system all over the world is undergoing a process of tremendous transformation. This is the theme of Block 7: Education, Globalization and Liberalization. One important facet of globalization and liberalization of the contemporary world is the expansion of professional and private education. The issues of Expansion of Professional Education and Private Sector are discussed in unit 21. The phenomena of participation of private providers of education, dimensions of professional education and the contribution of the private sector in expansion of professional education are discussed in this unit.

Unit 22 deals with WTO, GATS, ICTs and Higher Education. You must be aware of the tact that free trade in education through GATT and extensive use of its are important constituents of globalization. There has also been the emergence of knowledge economy with the rapid take over of service sector. As against this backdrop this unit discussed the linkages among globalization, knowledge economy and education, dimensions of I(Ts and digital devices, impact of GATT on higher education. This unit has also provides a critic of the pre-market philosophy on higher education.

Unit 23 of this Block deals with the issues of Social Commitments and Commodification of Education. It underlines the provisions of constitutional and legal framework for educational commitment in India, Social commitment for education for all as mentioned in the Darkar commitment, in the social development summit 1995 and in the Millennium Development Goal. The dimension of commodification of education and its impact for the under privileged section of the society are widely discussed in this unit.

The open and distance learning has emerged to be an import at strategy to enhance quality learning for the largest segment of the population. Block 8 deals with Open Distance Learning: The Emerging Facets. The Social and Philosophical foundation of OOL are discussed in unit number 24. Besides discussing the conceptual and theoretical aspect of ODL this unit also discusses the process of development of ODL, its emerging models and its different forms.

The Critical Issues in OOL are discussed in unit 25 by emphasizing the dimensions of equity and access, cost effectiveness, integration of technology, network and collaboration, quality concerns and research in ODL. In recent years there have been several concerns surrounding the functioning of ODL. Unit 26 discusses the Problems and Prospects of the OOL by locating it in the context of globalization, persistent digital and social device, emergence of knowledge economy and commodification of education. It focuses 'on the dilemma between social commitment and market requirement, quality assurance in the ODL. The issues of knowledge production, market dynamic and transformation of ODL are also discussed at length.

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