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LOOK DOWN HERE!

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Here's a checklist for assignments that you can use for the rest of your degree:

1. STRUCTURE:

Write a clear introduction that tells the reader what you're going to talk about - it's a map of the journey you're taking them on. Follow that map!

Break your argument down into paragraphs of about equal size as you develop your argument/story.

For longer pieces, you can use sub-headings if you want to, but make sure that the sections join together - like chapters in a novel, episodes in a story.

Make sure your conclusion reflects a) the introduction (i.e. what you've talked about) and b) is a reminder of the headlines of argument.

2. REFERENCES

Use as many as you need to - there's no recommendation for a perfect number, but if you had at least four for every 500 words, you'd probably be heading into good grade territory .

Use academic literature - journals, books, book chapters - official reports. Steer clear of newspapers (unless you're only using them to evidence facts , i.e. events) and blogs. Blogs can help you understand issues, but they are often covertly partisan. Political speeches are partisan- use them to show what someone is talking about and claims to be focusing on, but not as evidence of what is actually going on.

You get extra points by finding and using literature that is not part of the course readings. To find this, look at the reference sections of whatever you're reading, play around with Google Scholar, look in the library, or ask whoever is teaching the course.

Use the right referencing format - Harvard. There are guides online/in the library.

3. GRAND CLAIMS

Don't make sweeping statements like 'everybody thinks that' or 'most people' unless you have evidence that it's the case.

Don't generalise from individual cases or small samples. Schools, people, and groups, are not all the same. There is always variation within a group - statistics give us trends, not specifics.

4. YOUR OPINION

You can use your own opinion, but use it sparingly. Academic work, particularly for undergraduates, is more about basing work on high quality evidence - usually peer-reviewed and published work.

If you do want to be critical of a piece of research, a theory, a politician or policy, don't say 'I think that', say 'it could be argued that...'

5. BREADTH AND DEPTH.

You can also show breadth (and gain marks) by showing that you're aware of a range of issues and literature on a topic (with references) but then explain that you're going to focus on a smaller selection of issues (and why).

Breadth alone is descriptive, doesn't allow for much analysis, while depth lets you really examine something in detail (and collect more marks in the process);

6. NARRATIVE

This starts in your introduction, but summarise what you've found from reading around a topic to show you're aware of the broader context/themes. Then select some of the key points you want to focus on, explain why,and join those points together. Find a way that makes sense, that tells a story.

Essays and presentations are about developing an argument. Set the scene (what's the background), what are the key ideas and problems, and what are some different ways of looking at those problems and maybe solving them?

Proof read your work to make sure sentences aren't too long, and that you've rooted out typos. Effective proof reading requires that work is not put together last minute!

8. BE CRITICAL

This does not necessarily mean that you have to criticise, although it is good if you can.

Ask yourself whether there is something missing in the argument, it may be a particular perspective or issue.

Bring in other literature to help you. This can either be someone who has a similar perspective to whoever you're talking about, or someone with a very different one - this can open up a rich seam of useful understanding (and more marks)..

Being interdisciplinary - bringing in work from other disciplines - if you can, will win you points.

9. NOVELTY

Trying something different, approaching a topic in a different way to your colleagues/friends is not risky: if you follow all of the other rules, you can't go wrong. It's still about structure, references, and so on.

10. FEEDBACK

Read and implement the feedback on past assignments. This tells you what you're already doing well and where you can improve.

If you follow these steps, listen to the advice given by tutors, and take your feedback on board, there's no reason why you can't get stellar marks all the way through.

DO ALL OF THESE THINGS, NOT JUST SOME OF THEM!!

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How can we join some of the ideas from one discipline with any of the others?

Purposes and Outcomes

Philosophy often looks at the purposes of education, in principle, while Sociology and History look at the actual (social) outcomes of education.

You can then join them together - if these are the outcomes, are these the outcomes that we want, or that we expected?

Trends over Time

If Sociology tells us what the current hot/depressing patterns are in education, we can use History to help us how these trends have evolved.

Joining these together allows us to see how some things (like gender inequalities) are bad now but used to be far worse - or where some things used to be better and now are worse (like social mobility).

Constructing Understanding

Psychology tells us that people develop their own, individual understandings of the world, in developmental stages. Teaching therefore needs to be tailored to the age/understanding of the learner/group.

This connects with the idea that some Philosophers have that education needs to be centred around the learner and not simply take the form of information being 'fed' by the teacher.

Social Understanding

Constructivist approaches based on Vygotsky's work help us think about how interactions help (or hinder) how children learn and develop.

Sociologists have also done work in this area which look at how inequalities are created in the classroom and in education/society more generally (e.g. white, middle class staff teaching ethnic minority, working class pupils).

Facts and Opinion

History and Philosophy tend to use more interpretation and less 'data' than Psychology and Sociology, but they still develop reasoned arguments.

Sociology is generally accepting of both quantitative and qualitative research, but is still often based on data. It can, though, be quite interpretive and creative.

Psychology in the main relies heavily on statistics and views less 'scientific' approaches as too loose, lacking validity as they're not 'proving' anything and aren't based on controlled conditions.

Society and Schooling

Philosophers, Historians, Sociologists are very interested in what is taught in schools.

Philosophers might think more about the nature of what is taught and how  (e.g. banking education) and what the purpose/s of this is/are;

Historians might focus more on what's in it (as well as what's not) and whether that reflects the broader reality of historical knowledge or a biased view.

Sociologists would be more interested in the effect that the curriculum has on our understanding of:

Ourselves - e.g. mostly straight, white, able, middle class families in text books (versus the broader reality of different kinds of families).

Society - e.g. the hidden curriculum that teaches obedience and conformity, or the biased view of our national history on voting and other behaviour.

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How did we get to where we are today?

1. FACTS AND OPINION: There is a fundamental difference between facts and interpretation of facts. An event can be seen from so many perspectives that you can never capture (i.e. record) all of them perfectly.
2. MEMORIES: First person accounts (primary data) can be the best kind of evidence, but bear in mind that memories are selective and can fade/change, although hindsight (age) can also bring a different/better perspective than an interview/report done at the time.
3. EMPIRE: Perhaps because of the way that our national history is taught in schools and talked about in the media, a lot of people are unaware of the fact that the British Empire was not a golden period of happiness for all of its subjects - far from it.
4. (WHITE?) NATIONALISM: Connected to point 3, it has been argued that the History curriculum (as well as media representations and some kinds of national holidays) teaches a view of Britain and the (white) British as strong, 'good', and better than other countries, and this may contribute to nationalism, racism...and populism.
5. GENDER: Ideas around gender have changed a great deal, but we for a long time women were seen as inferior to men in character, intellect, and physical capacities, more biologically geared towards caring roles and being 'feminine'. There are still strong traces of this in current society.
6. PUBLIC SCHOOLS: These are private ('independent') schools attended by the children of the elite. They have, historically, had a strict disciplinary and physical culture, being geared towards developing toughness of character and a sense of entitlement and leadership.
7. GRAMMAR SCHOOLS: The education system after World War Two was divided into grammar schools for the brightest children and secondary schools for the less able. What happened over time, though, was that middle class parents became very good at getting their (no more 'able') children into grammars, and those children then went to good universities and better (i.e. professional) middle class jobs.
8. EXAMS: These have, historically, been seen as the best and most efficient way of comparing large groups of people on their ability. However, exams largely test memory, and if they are high stakes (i.e. you only get one chance, and they're important) then the ramifications of slipping up or not doing well can be carried onto your CV (and identity) for years.

Key Points
- Looking at the past helps us understand why education looks like it does, from the strong presence of religious schools, to the fact that there are relatively few male primary teachers, or why the graduates from some schools and universities dominate the professions.
- History is always an interpretation of facts. This does not make it weaker than science (or psychology) but it does mean that it produces a different (and perhaps richer, less sterile) kind of knowledge.

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How does education fit into/influence society?

1. WALLER: Sociology of education started with identifying key patterns (particularly around inequality) in education, and since then has also looked in more detail at what actually happens in schools (etc.) that creates those patterns and inequalities. Sociologists of education also examine how (education) policies develop and then critically examine analysing education policies and their effects.
2. WILKINSON AND PICKETT: We can see trends in many countries that show how societies which are unequal in educational outcomes are also more unequal in earnings. Those with more education live longer, get better jobs, like their jobs more, live longer, are less likely to commit crime, and vote more. We should therefore aim for better education for more people - it's in wider society's better interests.
3. SOCIAL THEORIES:
- Functionalism (uncritically) sees society as a machine where everything fits and works together,;
- Marxism sees society as unequal and created/maintained this way by those at the top;
- Interpretivism thinks more about individuals' own perspectives, not so much the broader patterns;
You often find combinations of Marxist (known more broadly as critical theory) approaches and Interpretivism, as we examine how education and its inequalities are created and experienced.
4. REAY: Social class is still a strong factor that can be associated with educational and other outcomes. Those 'higher up' do better in education and life, those 'lower down' do worse - so social mobility can actually be quite limited .
5. BOURDIEU: Success is a combination of economic (money), social (contacts) and cultural (knowledge, taste). Those who can collect the right combinations for any particular area will go further than those who can not - this system favours those higher up, creating social reproduction .
6. MIRZA: There are long lasting ethnic inequalities in education. Those from black families have historically, fared far worse in education than whites, but how this looks for different ethnic groups varies. This connects with issues around gender and class.

Key Points:
- Sadly, there is a great deal of unfairness in the world.
- Other important factors that can impact how you fare in education and life beyond it include: your sexuality, your relative dis-/ability, geography (region and neighbourhood), the state of the economy/job market,  education policy at the time, your school, individual teachers, your parents, peers.
- However, you do still have some agency in education/society - i.e. freedom to make choices and go places - but this is (far) easier for some than others.

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What's going on 'inside' people that can help us to help them?

1. SCIENCE: Psychology is perhaps the most 'scientific' of the social sciences because many/most psychologists are very wedded to the idea that you can conduct experiments to examine the outcomes and predict/control the future. You can try to control a lot of things, but never every single factor that can influence the result.
2. BEHAVIOURISM: The school of thought in Psychology which looks at explaining or predicting behaviour, often through the manipulation of rewards and punishments. Rewards should make us want to do things again and punishments should have the opposite effect.
3. DWECK: Are people of a Fixed Mindset (FM) or Growth Mindset (GM)? Do they think that ability is something that is simply there and unchangeable (FM) or that, with hard work, we can develop our ability (GM). If we praise people for their effort, not their achievement, we may be able to positively influence how they learn and develop. (This is a behaviourist approach.)
5. CONSTRUCTIVISM: People actively construct their understanding of the world through their experiences (Piaget) and social interactions (Vygotsky).
6. PIAGET: Piaget talked about passing through developmental stages which are characterised by having increasingly higher levels of thinking as you go 'up'.
7. VYGOTSKY: One of Vygotsky's key ideas was of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) which is what someone can achieve (learn) with help, usually through scaffolding, finding ways to make it accessible and help them understand.
8. PSEUDOSCIENCE: Something which looks like it's based on science but isn't actually justified by appropriate evidence.. Two famous ones are learning styles and homeopathy.
9. TOM: Theory of Mind is the capacity to imagine what others' perspectives and thoughts might be. Those with autism don't have it.

Key Points:
- We can undertake interventions to see if changes in teaching practice (or things like behaviour management) can have positive (or negative) effects, but we can never be 100% sure that the thing we changed is the (only) thing that created the effect.
- It is essential to think about who you are teaching - their background, previous educational (and other) experiences, age, potential/actual learning difficulties - and tailor your approach to suit them. Teaching is not about teaching in one way and assuming anyone who doesn't understand is simply not bright.

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What should the point of education be?

1. SMITH: Education can - and probably should - take a lot of different forms, from writing to performances, from lectures to debates and one-to-ones. It can also be conducted creatively and collaboratively, or in 'top down', 'regimented and memorising ways'. Teaching in different ways can allow us to develop both our understanding and different ways of interacting.
2. PLATO: Is school (or society) the shadows on the wall? What you know is not just from the teacher but many sources, and we have to learn to question what we hear/read, look for evidence, think things through, applying reason and experience (evidence).
3. ROUSSEAU: Education should be child-centred (i.e. not simply dictated by the teacher) and developed on experience and learning to reason. A key part of Rousseau's ideas was that education should prepare us for citizenship - taking part in society - not being thoughtless and selfish.
4. PETERS: What does it mean to be educated? It is not just about knowing facts, or knowing how to do something. You need to be changed by education, to develop understanding as to why/how things work.
5. DEWEY: Education needs to be based around what children are interested in, and geared towards the development of character and understanding right and wrong. The chief purpose of education revolves around the development of a functioning, democratic society.
6. FREIRE: Banking education just transfers knowledge from teachers to learners and expects knowledge not to be questioned. This allows those in power to dominate the rest. He argued that we therefore need an education which allows us to think for ourselves and change society to be fairer.
6. FOUCAULT: Many aspects of education (and society) can be seen to operate in a way that people are watched/monitored (on the street, on paper, online). Through this, we are all encouraged to conform, to being the same i.e. 'normal'.
7. KANT: We are 'immature' if we only accept information that we are given. Kant's writing idea came during the Enlightenment when people started to use evidence and reason to question what was being taught by the Christian Church. The Enlightenment also marked a big change for universities as they began to develop research - evidence to understand how the world works.

Two Key Areas:
- We need to think about what we're taught, and this also requires us being taught to think;
- Education can be a tool for a better (democratic, egalitarian, enlightened) world,

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THIS EDUCATION STUDIES STUFF - WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT, THEN?!

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THIS EDUCATION STUDIES STUFF - WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT, THEN?!