The curriculum and democracy

the lesson to be learned from the criticism of the New Educational Sociology

• Michael Young University of London

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33336/aik.96613

Abstract

The article examines the research direction called “the New Educational Sociology” which was dominant in Great Britain in the 1970s and which emphasised the central role of the curriculum in maintaining educational inequality. The proponents of this research direction especially emphasised the strategic position of teachers and teacher training in the reforming of teaching. The author is of the opinion that NES’s weakness was due, amongst others, to lack of political analysis, over-emphasising of the role of teachers and a lack of new alternatives as the basis of a democratic curriculum. The present situation requires deeper analysis of historical change and different alternatives, improved cooperation between researchers and those involved in practical teaching and more in-depth criticism of an educational policy which inevitably maintains inequality.