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Educational Policy Studies

College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Social and Cultural Studies of Education


The purpose of the Division of Social and Cultural Studies of Education in the department of Educational Policy Studies is three fold: (1) to provide a first-rate instructional and research program for graduate students;(2) to provide for future educational scholars and researchers a broad and complex understanding of the ways in which larger political, economic, and social forces shape the structure and content of schooling, as well as the roles and functions of educators, administrators and policy makers; and (3) to engage in critical scholarly inquiry about the relationship between schools and society in order to contribute to efforts by local, state and national agencies, as well as community groups to develop insights into and formulate appropriate policies to resolve contemporary educational problems.
 
Through an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates the knowledge, research and literatures of sociology, political science, anthropology and cultural studies, the division faculty provides for the College of Education a multidisciplinary focus on the social context of educational policy and practice, particularly in terms of questions of social justice, within formal and informal contexts of teaching and learning.  In addition, faculty members from the Division of Social and Cultural Studies in Education offer courses and mentorship to graduate students in education with particular research interests in the areas of sociology of education, policy studies and difference, cultural studies of education, and gender and women’s studies of education.
 
Graduate students in The Division of Social and Cultural Studies of Education are generally preparing for professions as university teaching, scholarly research and writing, educational organizational consulting, educational public policy analysis, and other private and public professional posts which require critical expertise and knowledge directly related to teaching, learning and educational policies and practices.

 

Faculty and Research Interests

Affiliated Faculty

  • William Cope  (multiculturalism and public policy; learning as design; social and technological literacy)
  • Michael Peters (policy futures in education, knowledge economy and cultures; poststructuralism; technology and development; higher education policy)
  • Arlene Torres

Courses in Social and Cultural Studies of Education (SCS)

  • EPS 420 Sociology of Education
  • EPS 421 Racial and Ethnic Families
  • EPS 422 Race, Education Policy and Social Science
  • EPS 423 Politics of Education
  • EPS 425 Anthropology of Education

For more information about these courses, see the Online Course Catalogue .

Specializations

  • Race and Ethnicity Education
  • Gender Studies in Education
  • Sociology of Education
  • Cultural Studies/Critical Pedagogy and Policy