BBC Education

As anyone involved in UK education will know the pace of change over the past few years has been phenomenal - government, it seems, just can't resist the temptation to change things. It wouldn't be so bad if the changes actually produced discernable improvements but at least you can keep up-to-date with the latest initiatives and pronouncements courtesy of this news site.

DEA: Mythbusters

Short, accessible, document  (Addressing Gender and Achievement: Myths) that sets-out to bust-some-myths about gender and educational achievement in a simple, straightforward and student-friendly way:

Gender and Subject Choice

Two short research publications form the Institue of Physics that provides some useful data on gender and subject choice at A-level.

John Taylor Gatto

John Gatto has some interesting - and controversial - views on education and on this site you'll find a range of educational resources (such as video and audio clips, selected articles and the like). There's some good stuff here (plus an awful lot of material that's neither interesting nor illuminating) so it's probably a case of wading through the dross to find the diamonds if you plan to use this material in class...

Education Guardian

This is another part of the burgeoning "Guardian Unlimited" empire that's gradually (and quite deservedly) taking over the Web. This, as you might expect, deals with "Education" and, as you might also expect, it does it comprehensively and very, very, professionally. The site has loads of categories dealing with up-to-the-minute advice and information, as well as giving access to the Guardian's educational archive. The site's a mixture of links (Choosing a School, Homework Help and so forth) and articles that should probably be your first stop for current (and not-so-current) educational information.

Education World

 A very large general education site that contains a range of Sociology links grouped around Organisations, Journals and Newsgroups (just search on the word "sociology"). In addition, a social science section contains a range of lesson plans, but you need to keep in mind the fact that these are largely US orientated and, in the main, below A-level standard. Nevertheless, an interesting and potentially useful site to visit every now and again.

Institute of Education

A useful source of cutting-edge research into the educational system and behaviour, given that the site has a searchable database of publications. Much of the research material will only be of use to teachers, but some can be used as background material for coursework.

Earlham Sociology

The general aim of Russell Haggar's site is "to provide a fairly comprehensive set of materials for several of the modules currently offered in the AQA AS and A2 Sociology specification", to which end it succeeds admirably. The site continues to grow with a range of new materials (teaching notes, PowerPoints, essays and assignments) for the sociology of education recently added. There are, of course, other goodies available, including extensive materials for areas like families and households, power and politics and social differentiation.

Ethnicity and Educational achievement

One segment in a BBC site that covers a wide range of "race related" issues. This page looks specifically  at the relationship between black ethnicities and educational achievement.

Eduqas Education

A small number of education resources (Role, Policy, Achievement, Trends) to support Eduqas exam board teachers, but general enough to be of use to students following the other UK Specifications.

Elitist Britain

This 2019 report from the Sutton Trust looks at the various educational pathways taken by Britain’s elites “from the type of school they attended to where they went to university” to paint a picture of educational and economic inequality across our society.

Twenty-five years of Learning to Labour

A 2003 interview with Paul Willis.