A Brief Critical Dictionary of Education

A Brief Critical Dictionary of Education 

Welcome

This resource is offered in the hope that it will provide a good introduction to some of the key terms and concepts in education. It is mainly designed for students on education courses but should also be useful for others with an interest in education.

The dictionary aims to provide a starting-point for inquiry and does not claim to be exhaustive or comprehensive. It is deliberately ‘brief’ so that it can be manageable and easily navigated. The number of entries has been kept brief as has the extent of the entries. The aim has been to provide a guide to as many key words as possible but certain groups of terms have been omitted:

• only terms used within the UK have been included;
• there are no biographical entries, so readers should consult other sources to find out about influential educational figures and their ideas;
• only a few of the most common terms from educational psychology have been included and so readers should seek that sort of information in publications dedicated to that field;
• the names and titles of educational organisations, examination systems, and educational qualifications or certificates have not been included;
• finally, only a few common statistical terms used in educational research have been included but readers seeking clarification on those sort of words will find many other publications available to help.

The dictionary is also ‘critical’ in that, where appropriate, some of the questions and debate surrounding key terms and ideas have been raised in the entries to alert readers to the fact that education is a very contested field. Thus, the brevity of the entries in this publication should not be misinterpreted as a suggestion that the words and concepts are simple and unproblematic.

The intention is that readers will find it a handy and useful aide to the many activities they may be involved in while in contact with the world of education.