Education, Curriculum Studies and Sociology of Education

Education has existed as a subject at Uppsala University since 1907. The first professor of the subject, Bertil Hammer, was also the first professor of education in Sweden. Over the past 50 years, more than 160 doctoral theses in education have been submitted to Uppsala University. At present, some one hundred individuals have been admitted to third-cycle studies in the subject at Uppsala and of these, roughly a third are actively working on their thesis.

The field of education deals with phenomena associated with upbringing, education and other systematic influences of significance from the viewpoint of society. People's learning and the conditions for learning within various human areas of activity are also studied under education. Learning is people's development of knowledge, competence, perceptions and attitudes. Educational phenomena can be studied on different levels:

• On an individual and group level, such as changes in the individual and in their conditions for learning and the interplay between individuals in different social groups
• On the level that relates to the education situation, the organisation and management of it and the methods of teaching, upbringing and other systematic influences
• On a societal level – the educational activities in relation to the various goals of society in a historical and comparative perspective.

Curriculum Studies as a field of research and area of knowledge deals with matters relating to the content of education and teaching. The subject of curriculum studies is deeply rooted in both scientific traditions and teaching practice. The research questions which constitute the core of curriculum studies arise in the meeting between specific subject matter and the teaching and learning of this subject matter which takes place under some form of activity. It is therefore interesting, for example, to study the content of the teaching and what makes this choice legitimate, who the teaching is directed to and how their learning process works, how the subject material is handled in the teaching and who has power over the selection process. Curriculum Studies as a field of research and area of knowledge therefore deals with questions found at the point of intersection between an area of activity/knowledge and education, teaching, learning and socialisation, in terms of both cognitive and normative content. The third-cycle subject of Didactics was established at Uppsala University in autumn 2002.

Sociology of Education explores education - in the broad sense of the word - as a social phenomenon. Education is thus related to the overall social structure, as well as to transformations in for example professional domains and to globalisation processes. A focal point in Sociology of Education research is the encounter between, on the one hand, the symbolic and material assets held by students and professors or by pupils and school teachers, and, on the other hand, the prevailing social and cultural order in the education system. Other significant areas of research are the history of and competition between educational institutions and how education is related to the structure of and struggles within various social fields, such as cultural, economic or political ones. As a discipline Sociology of Education is based on more general traditions in social and historical sciences.