Educational systems and their consequences - Einzelansicht

To better adjust the course requirements to your needs, I kindly ask you to provide some information about yourself by Monday 18/04 (traini@uni-potsdam.de):

a) what are you studying? Please be as specific as possible. For Erasmus students: which university & country do you come from? 

b) how many ECTS do you need?

c) do you need a grade?

Educational systems differ across countries. The latest comparative research has mainly focused on tracking, i.e., the process of differentiating individuals' school experiences through the grouping of students for instructional purposes based on actual or assumed differences in academic development or interests. The seminar introduces the different ways in which tracking takes place and provides a sociological tool to analyse its consequences on different outcomes, such as competence development, intelligence, educational aspirations, attitudes towards learning, political engagement and social, gender and ethnic inequality of educational opportunity. In the seminar we will also focus on teachers and their role in tracked systems.

Course objectives:
- Understand how macro factors influence micro-processes
- Define and identify the ways in which tracking takes place
- Examine how tracking influences different micro-level outcomes

• Coleman J S (1986) Social Theory, Social Research, and a Theory of Action. American Journal of Sociology 91, 1309-1335.

• Coleman J S (1987) Microfoundations and Macrosocial Behavior, in Alexander, Giesen, Münch & Smelser (eds.): The Micro-Macro Link. University of California Press, 153-173.

• Coleman J S (1990) Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press.

• Müller W. and Kogan I. (2010). Education. In Immerfall, S. and Therborn, G. (Eds.), Handbook of European Societies. New York: Springer, pp. 217-289

• + empirical articles based on students’ interests

Seminar wird in Englisch gehalten.

Depending on the credits requirements (ECTS) the performance is evaluated as it follows:

• Individual preparation (read literature and respond to questions & participate in group activities),
• Individual presentations
• final essay