The trouble with Kylie: Struggling to understand class experience in the sociology of education

Abstract

Courses in the sociology of education are conventionally structured by a critical theory of reproduction structured by the demands of race, gender, and class advocacy. This approach, however, particularly in the context of teacher education programmes, may not provide the majority of students with useful knowledge in the practice of their profession. These conclusions are supported by a reflexive, professional, examination of assignments submitted by about 100 education students at a New Zealand university. The students were asked to provide a commentary, informed by what they had learned of the sociology of education, on a conversation with a year-10 student preparing for School Certificate. The article suggests that contradictions in the sociology of education must be considered as the source of systematic confusions exhibited by the students' analyses.