Michael Young
Michael Young is Professor of Education in the Faculty of Policy and Society at the
Institute of Education, University of London and Professor of Education, University of
Bath. He was initially appointed as lecturer in Sociology of Education having previously
taught chemistry and physics in secondary schools in London. He gained a BA in
Natural Sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge, a BSc in Sociology from the University
of London and an MA in Sociology from the University Essex. In 1989 he was awarded
an Honorary Doctorate in Social Sciences by the University of Joensuu, Finland. In 2002
he was made an Honorary Professor at Capital Normal University, Beijing. He holds
similar positions at the Universities of Pretoria an Witwatersrand, South Africa and is a
Fellow of the City and Guilds of London Institute.
Publications
His most recent book Bringing Knowledge Back In was published by Routledge in
October 2007.
Other recent books include (with Jeanne Gamble) Knowledge, Curriculum and
Qualifications for South African Further Education, Human Sciences Research Council
Press, Pretoria, South Africa (2006) and The Curriculum of the Future (Falmer Press
1998). The latter book has been translated into Portuguese, Japanese and Chinese.
Previously he edited Knowledge and Control: New Directions for the Sociology of
education (Collier Macmillan, 1971) and co-edited Worlds Apart (1977), Society State
and Schooling (1977), Explorations in the politics of school knowledge (1976),
Understanding Technology in Education (1991) and Strategies for Achieving Parity of
Esteem in European Upper Secondary Education (1998), and Education in Retrospect:
Education Policy in South Africa (1990-2001), published by the HSRC (in South Africa)
in association with the Institute of Education.
His papers have been published in a wide range of edited books and academic journals
in the fields of educational studies and sociology of education and translated into
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Japanese, Chinese as well as a number of European languages. His paper From
constructivism to realism in the sociology of the curriculum was specially commissioned
for the AERA’s Review of Educational Research (2008).
Professor Young edited Special Issues of the Journal of Education and Work on
National Qualifications Frameworks and on Skills Development in South Africa and of
the Journal of Further and Higher Education on the blurring of boundaries between
further and higher education. Until 2001 he was a member of the Editorial Board of the
International Review of Education and in 2004 wrote a report on the feasibility of NQFٰs
for Developing Countries for the International Labour Office.
Research and Consultancy
From 1986-1999 Professor Young was Head of the Post 16 Education Centre at the
Institute of Education. During this period he directed or co-directed a number of national
and international research projects concerned with unifying of post 16 education and
training including a project on Unifying Academic and Vocational learning which was
part of the ESRC Learning Society Programme. Until the Committee was disbanded he
was a member of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority Advisory Committee on
General and General Vocational Qualifications.
Professor Young has recently completed research on the role of knowledge in
vocational education for the City and Guilds. He was the UK lead representative on the
COST Action Working Group 2 which undertook research on boundary crossing in VET.
He has been a research consultant on qualifications and qualification frameworks for
the:
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Qualifications and Curriculum Authority - on Higher Vocational Qualifications.
OECD, UNESCO, ILO
Centre for Labour Market Studies, University of Leicester
European Training Foundation
Victoria Qualifications Authority in Australia
Education Departments of Kosovo and Slovenia
Human Sciences Research Council, UMALUSI (Qualifications and Quality
Assurance Authority for General and Further Education and Training) and the
Council for Higher Education in South Africa
City and Guilds of London Institute
Centre for Educational Sociology, University of Edinburgh on their ESRC funded
project Implementing a Unified System.
GTZ, Germany.
Professor Young has lectured in many countries including Brazil, China, Chile, South
Africa, Canada, the USA, Australia, Taiwan, Japan, Norway and many of the countries
in the EU. He has examined PhD theses in Sweden, Finland and South Africa as well as
at a number of universities in the UK. In 2000 he was a member of the OECD Team
reviewing upper secondary education reforms in Mexico. In 2001-2002 he was a
member of the Ministerial Study Team reviewing the South African National
Qualifications Framework. In 2004 he led a research project on the Further Education
and training Curriculum for the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa.
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