Education and Social Policy

Here is a useful summary of the background to Education policy from the Robert Gordon University.

In particular I like the categorisation of approaches as follows:

Education has been particularly significant as an instrument of social policy, in the sense not only of policies for welfare but also as policies intended to deal with the structure of society. The aims of education include:

• Liberal education: the development of each individual intellectually and socially to that person's fullest potential
• Socialisation: education is a method of transmission of social norms and values. This is also sometimes seen as a form of social control.
• Education as 'handmaiden': the education system serves the industrial process and the economy by producing a trained workforce, and by providing childminding services.
• Social change (or 'social engineering'). The education system has been seen as a means of bringing about social change.