Summary
Contents
About the SeriesThe SAGE Key Concepts series provides students with accessible and authoritative knowledge of the essential topics in a variety of disciplines. Cross-referenced throughout, the format encourages critical evaluation through understanding. Written by experienced and respected academics, the books are indispensable study aids and guides to comprehension.Key Concepts in Education provides students with over 100 essential themes, topics and expressions that Education students are likely to encounter, both during their courses and beyond in professional practice. Co-authored to draw on experiences of working within academia, local authorities and the classroom, the entries provide:a definition of the concepta description of the historical and practical contextan explanation of how the concept is appliedan evaluation of the concepthelpful references and suggested further readingThis book will be essential reading for students of Education, and an invaluable reference tool for their professional careers. About the AuthorsFred Inglis is Emeritus Professor of Cultural Studies, University of Sheffield. Lesley Aers is a senior member of a local authority school improvement service and an Ofsted inspector. Both authors are former schoolteachers.
Norm
Norm
A norm (from which the adjective ‘normal’ is derived) is either the mean or average score in an aggregation of statistical results, or in sociological discussion it is a principle of social conduct, which may be moral, political or just customary. Driving on the left in Britain is a law; giving way to traffic from the right on a roundabout is a norm. Normality, of course, is the everyday but crucial measure of ordinary expectation, that which we take wholly for granted but the loss of which causes acute anxieties and, in the end, social breakdown.
Norms, as signifying customs and practice in everyday behaviour, are sometimes contrasted with values where the latter term identifies concentrations of meaning and significance, while norms are conventions regulating ...