Full Description
Please note, the book was previously published in hardback with the title Quality in Undergraduate Education (ISBN 9781474214490).
Globally, the appetite for higher education is great, but what do students and societies gain? This book foregrounds the importance of knowledge acquisition at university. Many argue that university education is no longer a public good due to the costs incurred by students who are then motivated by the promise of lucrative employment rather than by studying a discipline for its own sake. McLean, Abbas and Ashwin, however, reveal a more complex picture and offer a way of thinking about good quality university education for all. Drawing on a study which focused on four sociology-related social science UK university departments of different reputation, the book shows that students value sociological knowledge because it gives them a framework to think about and act on understanding how individuals and society interact. Further, the authors discuss how what was learned from the study about how policy, curriculum and pedagogy might preserve and strengthen the personal and social gains of social science undergraduate education.
Contents
Part I: Introduction
1. University Education, Inequality and Knowledge
2. Introducing the Four Universities and Departments
Part II: Setting the Scene
3. The Patterning of Inequality in Higher Education
4. The Construction of High- Quality University Education
5. The Power of Sociology- Related Knowledge
Part III: Exploring Educational Quality
6. Comparing Sociology- Related Curricula: Th e Pedagogic Device
7. Pedagogy for Powerful Knowledge and Understanding
Part IV: The Powerful Equalizing Effects of Knowledge
8. Disciplinary Identity and Pedagogic Rights
9. Undergraduate Education and Future Lives
Part V: Conclusion
10. Socially Just University Curriculum and Pedagogy
Appendix 1: Research Methodology
Appendix 2: Curricula: Compulsions and Choices
References
Index
