Durkheim's theory of education encompasses three components: (1) autonomy, (2) identification with a group, and (3) discipline. Since identification with a group is crucial, the exceptional child should be mainstreamed or integrated into the school and social situation so that s/he can become a part of society. (JN)

A truly balanced institution of liberal learning requires that socially useful information be broadly defined in order to safeguard academic freedom and foster the goals of a social democracy. (CJ)

This paper assesses how race and sex act to determine the educational performance and career aspirations of over 3,000 students in 23 public schools in Mississippi. Data are compared with results of Wisconsin research concerning the dynamics of early achievement processes for whites. (Author/AV)

Describes an innovative teacher education program at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in which urban high school students of color actually trained preservice teachers. Students took UCLA summer courses and participated in research projects in the sociology of education. Then, they helped teacher educators train preservice teachers…

Examines the ways in which anxiety appears in children's narratives about their transitions to secondary school. Features a pilot study that focused on Year 5 and 6 children (n=90) in two London, England primary schools. Explores the positive functions of anxiety as part of a development process. Includes references. (CMK)

Discussion of the use of intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) highlights the role of the teacher. Experiences at Gallaudet University with the Geometry Proof Tutor (GPT) are related, future expectations for ITSs are suggested, and an ideal intelligent instructional system is proposed that considers the social nature of education. (13 references)…

Demographic trends and data on minority participation in adult education suggest inequities in access. Theoretical explanations should attend to sociocultural forces affecting motivation and models of practice in minority communities must be based on understanding of the sociocultural context. (43 references) (SK)

Provides a systematic analysis of the music program of a private elementary school in Brazil to demonstrate the comprehensiveness of the systematic approach as applied to educational organizations. Discusses implications for both the planning of the structure of music education and for the teacher's individual planning. (CFR)

Considers group solidarity an important element in understanding teacher resistance to the stultifying effects of the educational system. Offers a case study of four eighth grade teachers acting individually and collectively to illustrate the contradictory and dissonant nature of the teacher's identity as autonomous individual and group member.…

Describes a teaching/learning center designed to enhance students' agency in their own education and in learning social responsibility. Presents a case study of a collaborative team-based model of teaching/learning at the college level. Discusses the pedagogical foundations of the teaching/learning-center concept. (DSK)

Explores a characterization of research into the present state of the general education schools and higher education in Russia. Addresses the status of sociology within the system of education and the place occupied by sociological education in the process of developing the science of sociology. (CMK)

Considers reflective practice from the point of view of the sociology of education, drawing attention to reflexivity as a social phenomenon, discussing reflective practice as a methodological problem and as a research instrument, and indicating some of the areas where research on teachers and their preservice and inservice training in Italy can be…

Laments the fact that the social strata model is still being used as the focal point of contemporary educational sociology and inequality research. Proposes models used in research on lifestyles and milieus conducted within the framework of empirical social research as alternatives. Provides two studies that illustrate these proposed methods. (DSK)

Central to teaching is a grand dichotomy: public and private. Children need the protection of privacy to form their own identities: they try out new roles and need to be sheltered from some consequences of these attempts so that they feel confident to keep trying. Forming an identity, however, is also a public concern: the very roles that children…

This article argues that a problem for the contemporary sociology of education is that it has operated within a "secularisation of consciousness paradigm". This has limited both the depth and the scope of its intellectual enquiries. Sociological analysis which elides a religious dimension not only presents an over-simplified view of…