CENTRE FOR LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL FOR UNDERGRADUATES
WHAT IS EDUCATION?
Key Information
Module code
Taught during
Module workload
Module leader
Department
Credit
Level
Pre-requisites
Assessment
ISSU1035
Block Two: Monday 25 July – Friday 12 August 2016
45 teaching hours plus approximately 100 study hours
Jo Pearce
Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment, Institute of Education
0.5 UCL credits, 7.5 ECTS, 4 US
Level 1, first year Undergraduate
Standard entry requirements
10-minute presentation (30%)
2,000-word essay (70%)
Module Overview
During the module, students will attend sessions at the UCL Institute of Education (IOE) where a range of
experts will present their responses to the question: what is education? These responses are underpinned by
the critical consideration of the following questions:
•
What is education for, what is its purpose, both here and now and looking to the future?
•
What should be its fundamental values and ethics?
•
What do we mean by knowledge and learning (including formal and informal learning)?
•
What is our concept of education?
•
What is our image of the learners, educators, learner contexts, and of community/society?
•
Who is responsible for education, and what does it mean to be responsible?*
Students will be encouraged to consider, and share, their own responses to these questions, in relation to
their own contexts.
Week One
• Module overview
• Philosophical perspectives on the moral and political aspects of education
• Changing values in education
• What are schools for? A sociological perspective on “powerful knowledge”
Please note that this module description is indicative and may be subject to change.
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Week Two
• The sociology of knowledge and learner identities
• Adult education and social change. A historical perspective
• The role and purpose of assessment
• Education, ethics and imagination
Week Three
• Consolidation of learning from the module
• Preparation for assessment
• Assessment
Module Aims
The Summer School on What is Education? introduces students to what it means to study education at a higher
level. It provides students with the opportunity to explore key ideas underpinning education, with some of the
world’s leading experts in education.
During the module, students will attend sessions at the UCL IOE where a range of experts will present their
responses to the question: what is education? These responses are underpinned by the critical consideration
of the following questions:
•
•
•
•
•
•
What is education for, what is its purpose, both here and now and looking to the future?
What should be its fundamental values and ethics?
What do we mean by knowledge and learning (including formal and informal learning)?
What is our concept of education?
What is our image of the learners, educators, learner contexts, and of community/society?
Who is responsible for education, and what does it mean to be responsible?*
Students will be encouraged to consider, and share, their own responses to these questions, in relation to their
own contexts.
*These questions are drawn from Fielding, M. and Moss, P. (2011) Radical education and the common school:
a democratic alternative. London: Routledge
Teaching Methods
Interactive lectures and seminars, open class and small group discussions, excursions, group work and private
study. Reading lists will be available online via the UCL library site. Students will be directed towards class
materials, further support and discussion forums on Moodle.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this module, students will:




Understand and had first-hand experience of what it means to study education at a higher level
Be familiar with some of the key ideas underpinning education, as well as with some of the stances
taken by world leading experts in education
Have critically considered and reflected upon the nature and purpose of education, particularly in
relation to their own contexts
Have critically considered and reflected upon the impact of a range of contexts on the nature and
purpose of education
Please note that this module description is indicative and may be subject to change.
2

Have developed their own critical and informed responses to questions concerning the nature and
purpose of education
Assessment Methods


10-minute presentation (30%)
2,000-word essay (70%)
Key Texts
Fielding and Moss: Chapter One: "The state we're in" in Michael Fielding & Peter Moss, Radical
education and the common school: a democratic alternative. Routledge, 2011 .
Bereiter, “Must We Educate?” Prentice-Hall, 1973. Chapter One, pp. 3-20.
Christodoulou, D. (2014) Seven Myths about Education, Routledge, London
Elander, Katherine Harrington, Lin Norton, Hannah Robinson & Pete Reddy (2006): Complex skills
and academic writing: a review of evidence about the types of learning required to meet core
assessment criteria, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 31:1, 71-90.
Moore, A. (2015). 'Knowledge, Curriculum and Learning: ‘What Did You Learn in School?’, in D. Scott
and E. Hargreaves, (Eds.) The Sage Handbook of Learning. Sage
Nussbaum, M. C. (1997). Cultivating humanity : a classical defense of reform in liberal education.
Cambridge, Mass ; London: Harvard University Press. [Chapter three: Narrative Imagination]
Pring: Chapter 2 (Aims and Values) in Pring, R et al (2009) Education for all: The future of Education
and Training for 14-19 year olds London: Routledge.
Reiss, M.J. & White, J. (2013) An Aims-based Curriculum: The Significance of Human Flourishing for
Schools, IOE Press, London.
Young, M. (2016) 'What are schools for?', in Curriculum and the specialisation of knowledge: studies
in the sociology of education, by M Young. Routledge.
Please note that this module description is indicative and may be subject to change.
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