This module draws on work in ethics and political philosophy in order to provide an introduction to some central issues in philosophy of education. The focus of the module is the intertwining of educational ideas and values with political ideas and values. We will consider some philosophical questions about the aims, control and provision of education, and will look at the ways they raise, in turn, questions about the social, and political contexts of educational ideas and practice, including the relationship between the individual and society, the role and legitimacy of the (liberal) state, and underlying ideas of justice, equality and freedom. Reflecting on these ideas can help us to understand and articulate different positions about the educational and political institutions we have and, perhaps, about the kinds of educational and political institutions we would like to have.

This module is an introduction to historical research in education, focusing mainly on archival research and oral history. It aims to introduce students to the...

Archival Research and Oral History in Education (EDPS0013)

This module is an introduction to historical research in education, focusing mainly on archival research and oral history. It aims to introduce students to the processes and conventions of research and writing in the history of education, to key genres of documents and other source material, to the ethics of historical research in education, and to the wide range of archival resources at the UCL Institute of Education and elsewhere. Students will examine the ways in which historians of education have used different kinds of material, and will produce their own research study using a range of sources. The module considers how research questions are devised, refined and answered. A key feature of the module is that students will gain hands-on experience of working with documents, oral history recordings and other sources such as photographs and film. The sources that we will work with include the British Library’s ‘Disability Voices’ oral history interviews, papers on the development of multi-ethnic education from the IOE’s Marina Foster collection, and photographs from the Plowden Report of 1967.