DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE AND ANALYSIS OF THE INFLUENCE OF CONTEMPORARY TENDENCIES ON THE CONCEPTUALISATION OF EDUCATION AS A MEANS OF SOCIAL CONTROL AND REPRODUCTION

Abstract

Throughout history to date, there are different concepts of education, and one of the most present is the concept of education as a means of social control and reproduction. Viewed in the historical perspective, various movements and educational actors have influenced the development and educational aims within national educational systems, and currently, the strongest influence is exerted by the global education reform movement (GERM), which operates through the actors of ‘conservative modernisation’. As one of the social subsystems, the educational system represents a polygon where, through national and global educational policies, power struggles take place between different social groups. Members of various groups of actors who make up the ‘conservative modernisation’ movement have different objectives and power to act. Within ‘conservative modernisation’ neoliberals are by far the strongest group in terms of capacity for practical action and symbolic capital. Each group of actors within the ‘conservative modernisation’ movement is trying to strengthen those elements within the educational system that enable them to retain and increase their social and political power while weakening those elements that weaken its social and political power. To achieve the stated goal, they use education as a means of social control and reproduction.