Issues and Problematics of Contemporay Education

Code:

PDCE11

Acronym:

QPEC

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Educational Sciences

Instance: 2024/2025 - A

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Education Sciences
Course/CS Responsible:	Doctoral Program in Educational Sciences

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
PDCE	20	Plano Oficial do ano letivo 2023	1	-	20	120	540

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students
Obs.: Português e Inglês

Objectives

Education research takes on specificities that stem from its own field and is, at the same time, in dialogue with contemporary theoretical frameworks in which the social, action and actors are conceptualised. The aim of this course is to address a set of theories and theoretical-conceptual frameworks that are the foundations of research in the social sciences and education sciences, and to map the most recent developments in the problems and issues of education. In this sense, in addition to the presentation and discussion of established theoretical-conceptual frameworks, which are always under development, this cartography takes into account the epistemological/ontological/axiological challenges brought to the field of social and educational research by the new social movements and post-human, decolonial, indigenous and feminist perspectives and, implicitly, the challenges brought to the field by the theoretical-methodological perspectives promoted by intersectionality.

Without disregarding the historical contextualization of proposals and developments in social theories and education, the course will focus on how, at the same time, they are part of a field in which discourses articulate and/or conflict with each other in their process of understanding social and educational phenomena in a way that is both global and situated.

By calling into question the very nature of scientific knowledge, its origins in the hegemonic Global North and the external and internal colonizations it has promoted, these perspectives seem to be reconfiguring the status and place of research, researchers and the relationship between knowledge and power. On the other hand, these approaches allow us to take up research problems about the emergence of new social forms driven to a large extent by the presence of technologies, new and old, in the most diverse social, cultural and educational contexts. It is therefore a question of bringing together multiple and diverse theoretical frameworks with an impact on the conceptualization and development of education, in the broad sense, and, more specifically, of educational systems, institutions, policies and educational categories (teacher/trainer; pupil/student; classroom/www; etc.).

With education assuming a central role in the political and economic discourses surrounding the so-called 'knowledge society and economy', educational concepts are being actively reconfigured. Establishing their meanings is a field of discursive and ideological struggle that needs to be critically analysed and viewed in the context of the 'renegotiation' of the modern social contract.

It is therefore within this framework that the issues linked to the relationship between education and social change, linked to education and the formation of identities in an era of transition and the issues linked to citizenship and participation will be developed, as structuring factors in the field of social theories and education. It is also within this framework that the issues linked to the multiple reconfigurations of the family, childhood and youth, the world of work, as well as the nature of knowledge and its translation into curricula and the education of children, young people and adults will be developed, i.e. as fields in which the guiding dimensions specifically mentioned are translated.

The program proposal therefore aims to assume that sociological and educational theories and issues are not unrelated to major contemporary transformations, which have a strong impact on the life of societies and, in particular, on formal, non-formal and informal educational spheres and contexts, such as the processes of digitization or the creation of reserves of materiality, and which will punctuate discussions and analyses across the course.

Organised into modules, the course seeks to promote and deepen knowledge of the most important perspectives - with an emphasis on the most contemporary theoretical debates - that have established education as a field of research. The course aims to contribute to the development of skills that enable students to position their research and themselves within the epistemological panorama of contemporary social sciences and education. In line with these modules, seminars are organised on authors who are central to shaping the field of social sciences and education. This CU also offers modules which students can choose according to their research interests or to explore and refine them. The modules are closely linked to the strategic research areas of the Center for Educational Research and Intervention and to the research carried out by the lecturers involved in this course. On the other hand, the modular structure of this course makes it possible to address a diversity of perspectives and conceptualisations, through the participation of teachers/researchers from the Department of Educational Sciences.

Along the same lines, more organised seminars are planned around influential authors in the contemporary way of thinking about and understanding social and educational phenomena.




Objectives

- To address a set of theories and theoretical/conceptual frameworks basing research in education and social sciences,
- To map out the latest developments of the problems and issues of education.
- To deep the knowledge of the most influential perspectives - with an emphasis on the most contemporary debates - which established education as a field of research
- To contribute to the development of competences enabling students to locate their own research in the contemporary epistemological landscape of the social and education sciences. 

Learning outcomes and competences

• Deepen the understanding of the main traditions in Educational and the Social Sciences.


• Critical knowledge about core concepts and their meanings, considering the different research and knowledge traditions and perspectives on society and education.


• Knowledge about the complexity and density of the conceptual networks convened to address social and educational problems.

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

Not applicable.

Program

Mapping out social theories and theories of education 
A. Education and social change
B - Education and critical perspectives: decolonial, indigenous, post-human and intersectionality 
C - Education and the formation of identities in an era of transition
D. Education, citizenship and participation.
E. Knowledge (s), policies and curricular and oorganisational practices
F - Education, training and work
G - Theoretical, methodological and ethical implications in research with young people.

Mandatory literature

Elliot, Anthony; Contemporary Social Theory: An introduction , Routledge, 2014
Paulston, Roland G. ; Mapeando a Educação Comparada depois da Pós-Modernidade, , Educação, Sociedade e Culturas, 16, 203-239., 2001
Young, Michael F. D. ; Conhecimento e currículo – do socioconstrutivismo ao realismo social na Sociologia da Educação,, Porto Editora, 2010
Bauman, Zigmunt; The Individualised Society, Blackwell Publishers, 2001
Giddens, Anthony; Dualidade da estrutura. Agência e estrutura. Oeiras: , Celta Editora, 2000
Bernstein, Basil; Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity – theory, research, critique, Routledge, 2000
Dale, Roger ; Globalization and the Rescaling of Educational governance: a case of sociological ectopia, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2007
Baert, Patrick & Silva, Filipe Carreira da ; Teoria Social Contemporânea, Mundos Sociais, 2014

Teaching methods and learning activities

- Presentations
- Text analysis
- Collective debates

keywords

Social sciences

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

designation	Weight (%)
Defesa pública de dissertação, de relatório de projeto ou estágio, ou de tese	100,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

designation	Time (hours)
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	50,00
Elaboração de projeto	50,00
Total:	100,00

Eligibility for exams

To be successful, the student must attend 75% of the classes

Calculation formula of final grade

The evaluation  of the curricular unit is developed in line with the evaluation framework of the Doctoral Programme in Education Sciences.

Examinations or Special Assignments

For the first module, Mapping Out Social Theories and Theories of Education , the  students are asked to write an essay on the basis of a selected work, by an  author whose research and scholarship had (and has) influenced the field of social and education research

Internship work/project

Not applicable.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Students who are legally exempt from attending classes must take a test to demonstrate that they have the knowledge and skills required and defined in the Curricular Unit form. Students who find themselves in this situation should contact the course leader within the first 3 weeks of the course to inform him/her of the situation, define how the test will be carried out and its timetable.

Classification improvement

Not applicable.